The Apology
by EveByNight
Summary: One Shot...or not! Back in high school Bella Swan was a bully, her biology partner Edward Cullen was kind of...well, a dork. Seven years later she's ready to make amends...Rated M for lemons & language
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just a quick lemony one shot for you. If you like the idea of a bad-ass Bella you might check out my story Being Good. I don't normally go in for sex scenes so this is kind of a first, possibly last, attempt. Let me know if I've hit the spot ;) EQx**

"Beer little bro?" Emmett boomed, beginning to pour before he'd even finished asking.

When Bella Swan had asked - completely out of the blue - to meet me I'd insisted we do it at my brother's bar. She'd seemed to be pushing for neutral ground but I figured I had the casting vote whether she liked it or not.

It'd been seven years since I'd last seen Bella, shoving her graduation cap in a trash can and stalking off campus towards a life of...I didn't really know. Being a total A-grade bitch somewhere else I guessed. There weren't many members of Forks High School's Class of 2006 who weren't glad to see the back of her because there weren't many people, teachers included, that she hadn't treated like dirt and although the handful of us who were still in touch sometimes talked about her we had no idea where she'd disappeared to.

So when she'd suddenly requested my Facebook friendship I was intrigued. I accepted thinking that, if nothing else, I could put that discussion to rest. But her page gave nothing away. She had a few friends but no information about where she was or what she was doing and the only interesting thing on there was her profile picture, it wasn't the clearest of photos but she was definitely smiling. The Bella Swan I had known never, ever smiled.

I took my beer to a booth, watching the usual Seattle rain pound the window while I waited. Emmett reluctantly disappeared off for a meeting with a craft brewery out on the peninsula, having left it as late as possible in hopes of spotting Bella before he went. He'd been a couple of years ahead of us at school but not immune to the odd 'bricks-for-brains' and other insults referring to his brains/brawn imbalance.

"Edward?"

She'd slipped into the bar without me noticing and was standing next to the booth, looking sheepish. She hadn't changed. Or at least she didn't look any older. Dressed in a pale blue cotton dress and high heels, wearing hardly any make-up and free from the nose and lip rings she'd been put into repeated detentions for refusing to remove she looked totally unlike her old self.

"Bella! Hi!" I exclaimed, standing up and indicating the bench opposite me, "can I get you something to drink?"

She asked me what was good and I brought her a beer - Emmett was pretty well known for his selection of speciality brews.

"So you look...um...different," she stumbled over her words, "different good I mean..."

I couldn't help allowing myself a small smile. While I hadn't been the nerdiest guy in school I was never exactly cool. I wore glasses and braces, had a terrible haircut and man, had I been scrawny. Things were pretty different now. Not to be arrogant but let's just say that Emmett claimed he only invited me to play gigs at the bar because it increased his female clientele by 100% - his words, not mine.

"I'm going to get straight to the point," Bella traced lines in the condensation on her glass, refusing to look me in the eye, "I want to apologise for the way I treated you back when we were in high school. I know I was kind of a bitch."

I choked on my beer, "yeah, kind of."

She grinned, finally looking up at me through thick lashes. Ugh, she was even more beautiful without all the eyeliner and I couldn't help but remember all the teenage fantasies I'd had about her, all the time I'd spent locked away in my room, ahem..._thinking_ about her. Yeah, she was a horrible person but teenage boys don't get all-consuming, passionate crushes on dazzling personalities.

"So why now? And why me?

"Oh, not just you," she explained, "I've tried to get in touch with a few of them. Jessica Stanley cussed me out in an email, I met up with Mike Newton which was fine, Eric Yorkie spoke to me on the phone. For the most part I couldn't find people or they ignored me. Can't really blame them, huh?"

We sat in silence for a moment, me sipping my beer and staring, Bella chewing her lip.

"Long story short Edward, I had a shitty childhood. My parents split when I was really young, neither of them knew how to deal with me. I guess I was angry and scared of getting close to people. Look, I don't know exactly, but that's what my therapist thinks and she's probably pretty close to the truth."

"Right…."

"It's no excuse for being mean but I'm different now, a lot has changed. All I want to do is apologise. Whether or not you accept it is up to you but I want you to know that it was all me, you were such a great guy and I just picked on you because you were an easy target."

"Thanks," I rolled my eyes.

She slapped a palm to her forehead, "I didn't mean it like that. I mean...I knew you liked me and so I guess it was easy to hurt you. Argh! I don't know! I'm sorry, that's it, I just want to say sorry. It wasn't you, it was me. There."

"You knew I liked you?" I was blushing. I didn't _blush_, what the hell was wrong with me?

"Uh, it was pretty obvious Edward. You really didn't need to sit as close to me in biology as you did."

"Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten about that." I hadn't.

"And keeping your textbook in your lap wasn't the subtlest way to…" she stifled a laugh and I banged my head down on the table.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed into the tabletop.

"Edward?" She tapped the top of my head, "Edward? I'm sorry I shouldn't have mentioned it."

I looked up at her, one eyebrow raised questioningly, "you really noticed huh?"

Her cheeks turned blazing red - the power of the eyebrow, "it was kind of difficult not to."

"So what do you do now Bella?" I changed the subject, putting myself back on the front foot while she recovered herself.

"I'm a paediatric nurse. I know it's funny, Eric thought it was fucking hilarious me helping sick kids. What about you?"

I patted the guitar case next to me, "musician. I play locally and I've written a couple of songs for relatively well known artists. Nothing huge but it pays the bills you know? I'm playing here later if you wanted to come down?"

I don't know why I asked really, I think it must have been for the inner seventeen year old who still needed to put a science textbook in his lap when she tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing the pale skin of her neck.

"Really? You'd want me to come back?"

I shrugged nonchalantly, or in a way that I hoped was nonchalant, "sure, if you've got nothing else going on."

We chatted for a while longer, she told me about some of the kids she worked with, how they had inspired her to make amends for her past behaviour. She asked me about my songs and my family - Emmett and our sister Alice - and I promised to give her number to Angela Weber. She left promising to be back before my set started.

But when eight o'clock rolled around and I stepped up onto Emmett's makeshift stage she was nowhere to be seen. I can't say I wasn't disappointed, I'd enjoyed speaking to her and couldn't deny that the flame I'd held for her in high school had been reignited. She was just as smart and funny but in a different, better way. She seemed kind and good and my God it had taken all of my strength to keep my eyes off of the button which had come open while we drank, revealing a sheer navy blue bra. So yeah, nice person...kind...bra.

A crowd had gathered, mostly the usual college girls who would try to hit on me once I finished up, when Bella finally walked in. She looked straight at me and mouthed 'sorry,' before settling down near the back of the room with a glass of beer in front of her.

I couldn't help but keep glancing over at her while I played. She was still wearing the same dress - albeit with the button sadly fixed - but looked somehow even more attractive under the dimmed lights, staring at me with an awed smile on her face. Or maybe it was the free drinks that came with having a bar-owning brother. Whatever it was I wanted her and I wanted her bad. So bad that I hit a couple of uncharacteristic bum notes so obvious that Emmett's wife, Rosalie, frowned at me from behind the bar where she was holding fort in his absence. She wasn't an easy woman to please but then it wasn't her I was trying to impress and it wasn't her that was making me lose all concentration.

I finished up my final song and packed up my guitar, dodging the usual advances from the college girls as politely as I possibly could while making it clear I wanted them to fuck off and quickly. With my guitar stashed away I made a beeline for Bella and she stood up with a huge smile.

"That was...I had no idea you were so talented!" She exclaimed, jumping up to hug me, nearly knocking me off my feet.

I groaned, "please don't do that."

"Oh God, I'm sorry. How inappropriate, we don't even…" She wittered, waving her hands wildly.

"It's not that," I breathed, "come with me."

Confused she allowed me to pull her into the corridor leading to the storage room where it was quieter.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice trembling slightly as I pulled her to a halt and glared down at her, "it was only...I was just…"

Unable to control myself a moment longer I grabbed her roughly by the arms and pulled her to me, kissing her. Hard. She moaned loudly and I pulled away, worried I'd overstepped the mark but she reached up and pulled on my hair, dragging my head down to her. I was immediately hard, desperate for her, as much for my now-self as for the speccy boy who had lusted after his mean biology lab partner.

Our teeth clashed and tongues tangled, she bit down on my lip and I think I let out something approximating a growl, pushing her up against the wall of the corridor, hitching her dress up around her thighs and kicking her legs apart so I could push myself against her as I kissed my way down her neck, making her moan out my name. She dug her fingers into my backside, while I palmed at a cotton covered breast, pinching her hard nipple through the material.

"Oh. My. God. Wait until I tell Emmett about this!"

Rosalie was leaning in the doorway to the bar, arms crossed with a huge shit-eating grin plastered across her face.

"Shit," Bella cursed, pushing her dress back down and squeezing out from between me and the wall, "shit, shit, shit. I should go…"

And with that she dashed back out into the bar. I followed her out into the street.

"Bella!"

She turned to look at me, rain already plastering her hair to her face, "I'm sorry Edward, that was a really fucking stupid thing to do."

"I disagree," I took a step towards her, then another until we were toe to toe, "very strongly."

I leant down to kiss her again, more gently this time and she responded by wrapping her arms around my neck, letting our lips lazily touch, ignoring the Seattleites dashing past with their umbrellas, desperate to get out of the cold rain. Eventually we pulled apart.

"It's kind of wet out here and my apartment's just over there," I pointed, "just saying."

"Have you got coffee?"

"Sure," I grabbed her hand and practically dragged her across the street to my building.

I leant down to fumble the key into the dodgy lock and as the door eventually swung open she slipped in front of me, turning to grab me by the lapels of my jacket, slipping it off of my shoulders.

"You need to get out of these wet things," she purred, "you'll catch a cold."

"What a cliche," I managed to choke out, leaning in to unbutton the top buttons of her now almost completely transparent sodden dress.

She manouvered herself backwards towards the stairs leading to my apartment, dropping my jacket and closing in on my shirt, "you're soaked through."

"Do you think you could stop talking now?" I asked as she tripped, falling gently and possibly not so accidentally, taking me with her.

She raised her eyebrows, "you never would've spoken to me like that at school."

"Shhh," I cut her off with another kiss, gentle at first then harder, responding to her insistent removal of my shirt and her short, sharp gasps every time I ground myself into her.

We stayed there, uncomfortably lying on the stairs, until I couldn't take it any longer. I pushed myself up, pretending not to notice her hungrily eyeing the erection trying to fight its way out of my pants, and lifted her bodily from the stairs, throwing her over my shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing?" She yelped, "put me down!"

"Really?" I opened the door to my apartment and carried her in, taking the opportunity to ogle her ass, barely covered by her hitched up dress and rearranged navy panties.

"No," she breathed.

Heading directly for the bedroom, not overly concerned about the state I'd left the place in when I left this afternoon; sheets ruffled and old coffee cups on every surface, I placed her gently on the bed, her wet hair spread out around her, large eyes peering up at me, dress barely still in place.

"What now?"

"What do you think?" I laughed, kneeling between her legs and popping another button open on her dress. Then another and another, "I've been waiting for this for ten years, I'm not going to wait any longer."

She said nothing, just let me rip the dress away from her, finally. She was perfect, navy blue against pale skin, the vision I'd only imagined for years making me impossibly harder.

As I took in the sights she palmed me through the tight denim of my jeans, sighing at the uncontrollable twitch of my cock, straining towards her.

"Bella…" I groaned and she took the hint, deftly flicking open the fly and pushing the pants down my legs, looking me dead in the eye the whole time. The part of me that just wanted to be inside her fought with the part that wanted to make this last, savour every moment, appreciate every inch of her skin. The brain won out, just, and I bent down to place a mouth on her breast, nudging the cup of her bra to one side and swirling a tongue over a taut nipple, taking it between my teeth and gently biting down, moving to the other breast and repeating the action until she was gasping, her breath ragged, chest heaving.

I traced a tongue down, as slowly as I could bear, tasting her skin until I reached the barrier of her panties. I'm not sure if it was she or I that got rid of them but they were gone in a second and I was gently running a tongue across her centre, already dripping with want, becoming wetter as I dipped inside.

"You taste amazing," I mumbled, going back for more, pressing a tongue against her clit, causing her hips to buck. I carried on, flicking my tongue against her and gently easing two fingers inside, moving them back and forth, curling them to find just the right spot. Faster.

"Oh God, oh God…" she chanted, "I'm going to...Edward…"

She pulsed around my fingers, loudly whimpering as she came, her body convulsing until the orgasm subsided and she went completely still, her breath slowing.

"I'm not done with you," I whispered, climbing back up her body, leaning across to the nightstand to retrieve the condom I, with uncharacteristic grace, tore open and rolled on, kneeling in front of her, enjoying her eyes raking over my body appreciatively.

Taking my weight on my arms I gently rubbed my cock against her, letting it slip through the wetness, sliding against her still sensitive clitoris, enjoying her writhing beneath me, trying to ease me inside. I took the hint, sucking my breath in through my teeth as I pushed into her, feeling her tightness around me, fighting the urge to pump my hips, instead lazily easing in and out, one hand tracing her nipple, looking her in the eye as she stared back at me, her eyes barely open, her lips swollen and red.

As the sensation became too much and both of us neared release I pulled out, kneeling again and giving her a wicked grin, "too slow."

Her eyes widened in something like surprise and giving her a wicked grin I grabbed her, lifting her easily with one arm and flipping her over, placing her on all fours, I stroked a hand across her ass, up her back to her neck and down before I entered her for a second time feeling the warmth and wetness of her all over again, just as perfect but this time tighter, deeper.

I began to move, pumping in and out, reaching around to find that hard little swollen mound, rubbing a fingertip across it. She pushed back into me, forcing me deeper and I moved faster, forgetting myself, roughly rubbing with my finger while I pounded into her, feeling myself nearing the edge, her gasps and near-screams driving me on. And then, as I felt her tighten around my cock, heard her pull her breath in, felt her shaking beneath me I came, cursing, slamming myself into her one final time.

We fell into each other, tangled in the sheets and searching for our breath. I don't think either one of us said anything for hours. We just laid there, slumped across each other, neither of us with anything to add.

Eventually I rolled over to kiss her but she was already asleep.

**********

I awoke the next morning to find her standing over me, already dressed. The sun was streaming in through the window, illuminating her from behind.

"I tried not to wake you."

"S'ok," I yawned, although it kind of wasn't. Being a musician wasn't consistent with early starts, "what time's it?"

"Early. I have to go get changed before work." She was a state in her crumpled dress and knotted up hair, dark shadows under her eyes.

"Will you call me?" She asked ducking her head, blushing.

"Maybe."

Bella Swan smiled a last time, turned and left.


	2. Chapter 2

I dashed to my locker to check my phone for probably about the one hundredth time. Still nothing.

My mind wasn't on the job at all, it was back at Edward Cullen's flat, still losing itself. _Shit_. I needed to get myself together before I started making mistakes. Nursing wasn't exactly a job you could check out on when you weren't feeling like giving it 100%.

"Bella, where are those notes?"

"Huh?"

"Notes. Amy Farrell."

It was the sort of thing that would've gotten me in deep shit if the surgeon standing in front of me with his arms crossed angrily over his scrubs was anybody other than Jasper.

"Jesus, sorry Jas. Give me a minute," I ran over to the nurse's station and dug out the folder he needed, a seven year old girl with a brain tumour. A little more important than the mental image of Edward Cullen going down on me that had been getting much more of my attention until then.

Jas looked at me sideways as I handed him the folder, "does this have anything to do with the guy you were meeting up with yesterday? Physics class guy?"

"Biology."

"Looks to me like you might have been involved in a little hands on experiment…"

Jasper could read me like a book. We'd dated for a few months and now he prided himself on knowing when I'd got some, a talent I was pretty sure future boyfriends weren't going to find as hilarious as he did. Not that they were exactly queuing 'round the block to find out.

He waved Amy Farrell's notes at me, "thanks for these. We're gonna talk later, you and me."

"Fine," I muttered and went back to checking IVs.

I wouldn't mind giving Jas the lowdown on my night with Edward under any other circumstances - in fact I positively looked forward to teasing him about a lay that was in every way superior to him. Jas, like most surgeons, thought he was God's gift not only to medicine but to anybody lucky enough to find themselves on the receiving end of his cock. But Edward's dismissive attitude when I'd left his bed this morning made me feel less like sharing. I thought that what happened had been incredible but maybe….maybe I was wrong. Jesus, was I terrible in bed? Or worse, was the whole thing just a way to get back at me, was Edward laughing with Jessica Stanley and Angela Weber right now? Perhaps he'd videoed the whole thing and I was going to be finding myself with a starring role on youtube. I needed to get a hold of myself. _I'd rather Edward was getting a hold of me…_

Even my inner-puns were suffering.

**********

"Doggy on the first date? Oof!"

"Fuck off Jas," I grumbled, wishing I'd left him hanging. But no, my need to share had gotten the better of me once again.

"Surely someone fresh from hot sex with a geek-turned-muso should be looking happier right now?"

I took another gulp of red wine, indicating to Jas that he needed to refill my glass, stat.

"He hasn't called. I don't think I'm going to hear from him again."

"Woah! Where's my confident Bella 'I don't need no man tying me down' Swan? It hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet."

"I know, I know. I just have a...feeling. He was pretty distant when I left."

Jas rolled his eyes dramatically, "you had a six am shift, the poor guy had probably had, what, thirty seconds of sleep? Give him a break."

We ordered our meals from a waitress who was, like most women, rather taken with Dr. Whitlock and moved onto the more pressing subject of his love life - decisions, decisions as always; did he go for the cute student nurse or the rich cougar downstairs? Or did he play them both and see where it went?

"There's a name for men like you," I snorted, leaning over to spear a mushroom from his plate.

"Oh yeah?"

"Manwhore. Just pick a girl and stick it out for once in your sorry life."

"Uh," he frowned, "I picked a girl and she, and I quote, 'wasn't ready to settle down'."

"I only said that because I was sick of you hogging my hairdryer and wanted you out of my damn bathroom in the mornings. Another girl will be much more generous with her electricals I'm sure. Don't try to make out I ruined you for life."

"You wish Swan. Oh and Bella…"

"Mmm?"

"You're paying."

Jas walked me back to my apartment, hugging me before he disappeared off back to his vastly superior place. I let myself in, throwing my jacket and keys on the kitchen counter, earning myself a glare from Bowie, the black cat that kept me as a slave.

"I'm starting to think it might just be me and you forever more Bowie. How many lives do you reckon you've got left?"

I considered. There was the time he was hit by a car, the time I went away for a weekend and forgot to leave him food, a leap from the balcony at my old third floor place…

"Maybe I'll need a new cat to keep me company into old age. I shall call him Bowie II."

He gave me a look that said 'just pour the damn biscuits' and I dutifully did as I was ordered.

While Bowie noisily crunched on his biscuits I flipped open my laptop and navigated my way to Facebook. I wasn't normally a fan of people's passive-aggressive rants and baby photos but on this occasion I prayed to the God Zuckerberg for a hint that Edward might be thinking about me and that social media might just give me an insight into his brain. It was what Jas termed 'Face-stalking' and something we both very much disapproved of.

Nothing. In fact Edward hadn't updated his profile for weeks, not so much as a selfie. I made to shut down my browser but..._I could just have a little tiny look, just a really quick, tiny look. _I eagerly clicked through to Edward's photos. Most of them belonged to Emmett, snapped at the bar and featuring his brother playing guitar onstage or giving the camera disparaging looks while drinking beer.

Halfway down the page was a photo of Edward and a girl who, I was fairly sure although it had been years since I'd seen her and this version was infinitely cuter, was Angela Weber. Then there was another, and another...okay, so it looked like they'd been on a holiday together, I mean _alone together_. There was skis and steins of beer and mountainous backdrops but there was most definitely nobody else there with them. And their body language? Couldn't have been more couple-y, especially in the hot tub snap, taken at arms-length by a bikini-clad and, I thought, possibly boob-jobbed Angela - he had an arm around her bare shoulders and could not have been closer if he'd climbed onto her lap for the shot.

I checked the time-stamp next to the photo; 27th February. I flicked my eyes down to the calendar icon at the bottom of my screen. 3rd April. The photos had been taken barely a month ago. Surely there was no way a couple had gone from hot tub sex in Jackson Hole to sleeping with other people in the space of a month?

And even if they did there was no way I could ever speak to Angela now. What would I say? 'Sorry about being such a douche in school, I've changed. Oh and by the way I slept with your ex...' Some apology.

**A/N: Ok, ok, I know you're all furiously screeching at me over the lack of Edward but he will be back and more auburn-ly perfect than ever soon enough. I hope all you trusting followers like, review and, most importantly, will be back for more. Expect more in the next couple of days. EQx**


	3. Chapter 3

"You go in first and make sure he's not there."

"Bella this is ludicrous, just call the guy."

I peered in through the window, "it's all fogged up, I can't see a thing."

"Jesus Christ. Okay, what does he look like?" Jasper asked, crossing his arms and giving me 'the look'.

"Tall, auburn hair,"

"Auburn?" he snorted.

"Kind of reddish-brown, messy."

"Fine," Jas shook his head and stomped into Emmett's bar, giving me a last head shake.

It'd taken some convincing but eventually Jas had agreed to some light stalking, coming with me down to Yellow Rose, the bar where just three days ago I'd met Edward. He was totally confused by my panic over Edward's Facebook photos, even after I'd shown them to him, making sure he carefully examined every last one in minute detail.

"So what?" he'd asked, "I don't get why there's a problem? Everybody's got exes."

"But what if she's not an ex?" I moaned.

"Then the guys a sleaze and you're better off finding out now instead of later. I can fuck him up if it'd make you feel any better."

"You couldn't fuck up my cat Jas."

"Want my help or not? 'Cause I can just…" he tipped his head towards the door.

"Fine! If I need anybody taken down I'll let you know Don Jasper. But for now can you please help me work this out?"

He rubbed his hands over his face, "I don't know what you want me to say Bella. Chances are they broke up. Happy holiday snaps a month ago don't mean they don't hate each other's guts by now. Wanna know what I think?"

"I'm not sure."

"Best case scenario they broke up, you fucked him, he hasn't got around to calling you. Worst case scenario you're the rebound girl."

"Or he's a cheating shitbag."

"See any photos of the girlfriend since the holiday?"

"No," I grouched.

After some more wailing and whining from me, Jasper took the easy route and agreed to my secret sleuthing plan. Quite what the plan _was_ we hadn't agreed but I thought we might be able to get some intel from Edward's brother. And so that's how I ended up leaning against the wall of Yellow Rose, inspecting a broken finger nail and waiting for my partner in crime to scope out the target.

Jas was taking forever. I tried to peer through the window again to see where he was and what he was up to - if he was hitting on some girl there'd be hell to pay - but the condensation still made it impossible to see. Half an hour passed before he eventually tumbled out, shouting 'see you soon!' to someone in the bar.

"Tell me you haven't been picking up bimbos."

He placed a hand over his heart, mock-offended, "you wound me Isabella! And after all I've done for you!"

"Come on then...what happened? Was Edward in there? What took so long?"

"I've saved you a job and spoke to Edward's brother - Emmett right? I figured you'd only make an ass of yourself if you went in there with a billion idiotic questions."

"What? You asked him outright?" Rage was boiling up inside me, he was supposed to check the coast was clear so I could go in and drop some casual questions on Emmett, "did you mention me? Please tell me you didn't…"

Jas grabbed my elbow and steered me away from the bar, "I'm remembering why we split now Bells, you're damn hard work."

"Yeah, that was it dickwad," I muttered.

We found ourselves in a coffee shop moments later, a steaming black filter coffee in front of me, a cream topped vanilla spiced something-or-other and a huge slice of chocolate fudge cake in front of Jas.

"Now will you _please_ tell me what Emmett said?"

"What's it worth?" I shot him the dirtiest look I could muster, one that I hoped said 'I'm going to rip your dick off and feed it to you', or something like that, "fine, fine. So your fuck-buddy and his girl are no longer an item. He is a free agent and you should call him before I have to have you committed."

"They're not together?" I breathed, allowing myself a small smile and a victory fingerful of chocolate fudge frosting.

"Nah, split up a week ago Emmett said. Nice guy by the way."

"_A week ago?_"

Blood whooshed in my ears. So Jasper was right, I was the rebound girl. Edward had used me and wasn't going to call. Nobody picked up girls they meant to call that soon after they split with ski holiday-worthy girlfriends.

"I'm such a dick," I moaned, dropping my head into my hands.

"What the hell? You didn't want him to be cheating on somebody when you got with him. He wasn't. That's a Good...Thing," Jas enunciated.

"It's not a good thing Jas, it means I was the rebound girl. It _means _he's not going to….shit! Shit!" in a moment of sheer panic I ducked, sliding off of my chair and crouching beneath the table.

Jas's head appeared, "uh, why are you under the table Bella?"

"Behind you, at the counter..._shiiiit_."

He turned around to check it out, "Oh! So _that's _auburn."

Standing with his back to his was the unmistakable tall, lean figure of Edward Cullen, wearing a hooded raincoat with his guitar bag slung over his shoulder. He paid up, grabbed his coffee and turned, searching for an empty spot. Why couldn't he take out? He only lived across the street. Didn't the guy have a damn coffee maker?

Jas kicked me in the shoulder, on purpose, "what's the plan now genius?"

I peeked out from my idiotic hiding place, Edward had settled in a spot with an excellent view of us, the only saving grace being that he had flipped open a laptop and seemed to be intent on the screen. I reached up and slipped my cup across the table, lifting it down to me and taking a sip.

"You could just go and talk to him. Or I…"

"Don't even think about it Jasper Whitlock. I'll cut you," I hoped the threat in my voice would be enough to stop him from doing something to embarrass me.

Just then I heard the beep of a cell phone from across the room. Edward's. He picked it up and glanced at the display, frowning, shaking his head and placing it back on the table next to him. I watched him sit stock still, brow furrowed, chewing on his bottom lip. Memories of his mouth on mine flooded back without invitation.

A loud - too loud - cough caused me to jump out of my skin. Edward looked up.

"Jas! Jasper!" I rasped, pinching his upper thigh, dangerously close to the kill zone.

"Ow! ISABELLA SWAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE UNDER THE TABLE?" he yelled, loud enough that the entire room went silent and looked in our direction, Edward included - his eyebrows weren't knitted in thought anymore but up somewhere pretty close to his hairline. In a panic I ripped an earring out of my ear.

"Bella?" It wasn't Jasper's face peering down at me this time, "are you alright?"

"Here it is!" my voice was a little too high. I waved my earring in the air and backed out from underneath the table, "oh, hi Edward! What a coincidence!"

"Er, I live across the street. You know that."

"Yes. Yes I do," I rambled, standing upright and trying to think fast, "and...so does Jasper!" I pre-empted Jas's denial with a swift kick to his ankle. At the same time Edward turned his head to look at my friend, who was innocently concentrating on his chocolate fudge cake.

"You're Jasper?" Edward enquired.

He raised his dirty blonde head and sheepishly licked his fork, "mmhmm."

"The Jasper that was just in my brother's bar?"

"Mmmhmmm…."

Unfortunately despite my silent prayers to all the Gods I was aware of and some names I weren't even sure belonged to any useful deities, the ground didn't open and swallow me up.

"Bella," his voice was low and his eyes glinted with anger. If I got out of this without dying of humiliation - as a medical professional I hadn't heard of it happening before but there was a first time for everything - I was going to kill Jasper, I'd happily take the jail time, "I think we need to talk. Don't you?"

**A/N: thank you so much to all of you who have followed and favourited so far, I guess that means you're enjoying the story so far. But who do I have to bribe around here to get a review? Come on people, I want to hear your thoughts, good, bad or ugly (seriously though, be nice)...**EQx


	4. Chapter 4

I awoke the next morning to find her standing over me, already dressed. The sun was streaming in through the window, illuminating her from behind.

"I tried not to wake you."

"S'ok," I yawned, although it kind of wasn't. Being a musician wasn't consistent with early starts, "what time's it?"

"Early. I have to go get changed before work." She was a state in her crumpled dress and knotted up hair, dark shadows under her eyes.

"Will you call me?" She asked ducking her head, blushing.

"Maybe."

Bella Swan smiled a last time, turned and left.

I was jolted awake by a loud sound coming from...somewhere. It took a moment to recognise it as the opening bars of Wasteland by Hooded Fang. I loved that song so much I'd set it as my ringtone….oh, right. Where was my cell?

The call had gone to ansaphone before I'd managed to find it beneath a pile of sheets and clothing, thrown across the room during last night's insanity. I still found it pretty hard to believe that Bella Swan had been here. That Bella Swan had done that with me. I wished I could go back in time and tell sixteen year old Edward that those shower-time fantasies were going to come true. One day at least.

I doubted sixteen year old Edward, in his night time retainer, would've believed me.

The display on my phone showed that it was after 1pm. I vaguely remembered Bella leaving, mascara smeared under her eyes and her dress buttoned up all wrong. It'd been early, really early. I kind of wished I'd have been able to speak to her before she left, worked out what this was…if there was a 'this'. Alright, so I wasn't really in the right place for a relationship - as Alice hadn't tired of telling me recently, 'you just need to be single for a while' - but there was a spark there and I knew Bella felt it too. I needed to think.

The voicemail had been left by Peter, a friend at Midnight Studios down in Portland. The message was brief but to the point - he urgently needed a session guitarist, was I available?

By 4pm I was on the road, a backpack and my guitar in the back of the Volvo heading down the I-5. These kind of jobs didn't come in very often but when they did they were almost impossible to turn down. Playing venues around Seattle didn't pay much, in fact the only way I kept rent paid was from the pretty decent royalties that came in from song-writing, so on those few occasions I got the call from Peter I dropped everything else and hauled ass down to the scuzzy corner of Portland Midnight called home.

As I drove my mind kept drifting back to last night; Bella's soaking wet hair spread around her as she lay on my bed, the navy blue of her underwear against her pale skin, the taste of her, the ecstasy of being inside her, seeing her flush red and call out my name…

"Fuck!" I swerved just in time, narrowly missing the Chrysler that seemed to come out of nowhere to slam its brakes on right in front of me. Head in the game Cullen.

That night I called my little sister, Alice from the crappy motel room Peter had hooked me up with. The clock radio refused to tune and the bed sank in the middle, it was the kind of shithole you'd see in made for TV crime dramas.

"Hey Edward, I thought you might call," I could hear her grin even if I couldn't see it.

"You're a mind reader now?"

"I spoke to Rose. What were you thinking? Oh, silly me, it wasn't your brain doing the thinking."

I sighed, "it was a one off. These things happen."

"A one off? You're sure about that?"

I opened the mini-bar and, thank God, it was the one thing the motel owners had managed to get right. A slug of Coke joined a tiny serving of JD in a thimble sized plastic cup. I hadn't realised how much I'd needed the hit of alcohol, clearly I was stressing more than I had thought.

"Yes. I mean, no…I don't know. I like her Alice, a lot but…"

"Angela?"

It was something that I'd been turning over in my mind all afternoon. Was I hesitant because of Angela? She'd called it off days before and although the split had been coming for months - we'd both known it but taken the easy option of staying together, playing the happy couple - I was still kind of in shock, probably not in the right frame of mind to be getting it on with anybody else, much less with somebody who meant something to me.

I tried to explain it to Alice, babbling out a stream of consciousness down the phone as first the JD and then a vodka loosened my tongue.

"Do you think that you might be confusing your feelings for Bella back then with your feelings for Bella now? You had it pretty bad for her when we were kids. Who did you really go home with last night?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean did you sleep with High School Bella or new and improved Bella? Did you do it for you now or for you then?"

"Fuck Alice, I don't know. That's what I can't get my head around, it felt so right being with her but it just doesn't make sense for us to be together."

"Hold on, hold on. I think you need to back up here, we're not talking marriage and kids are we? You haven't even taken her out on a date. Maybe you'll do that and realise you just don't feel that way about her or that she doesn't feel that way about you or that the timing's all wrong or…"

"Okay, I get it Alice. Should I call her?"

"Do you want to?"

I raked my hand through my hair, it was getting too long, "yes, but…"

"No buts," Alice was firm, "the Edward I know, the Edward who dropped out of college to be a musician, who took off around the world on his own, he follows his heart. And it sounds to me like your heart, and perhaps Little Ed," I grumbled at her lame joke, "want you to see where this thing might go."

"What about Angela?" We might have split but I still cared alot for her, I didn't want her to feel bad about me moving on with my life so fast. Especially with a girl she hated.

"Seriously, I wouldn't worry about Angela. I saw her yesterday," Alice sounded like she was about to say something else but the line went quiet.

"Is she okay?"

"Mmmm, I'd say she's fine Edward. More than fine."

**************************

The next two days flew by. We were in the studio from midday - I'd yet to meet a musician, myself included, that could make it out of bed before eleven - until the early hours, playing the same songs over and over and over. Peter yelled constantly, frustrated that the band, three guys from Boise who, despite their lack of a name, had managed to gather up a pretty big following around the North West plus a generous record deal, seemed incapable of actually playing their instruments. The drummer couldn't keep time, the singer seemed unable to play and sing at once and as for the bassist...both Peter and I wondered if he'd even seen a bass guitar before.

I played as well as I could, making up the shortfall, while Peter and his studio engineer Garrett gave it all they could on the mixing desk. Eventually the band's manager, an Italian guy in a dodgy suit with greasy hair and a lingering handshake, was happy with what the band had laid down, declaring that the 'rough and ready sound' was what the label had signed them for.

After we'd wrapped things up Peter, Garrett and I grabbed a beer. But my heart wasn't really in it, my mind kept drifting back to Bella, the text message I'd been composing in my head still incomplete, the phone conversation I wanted to have with her too un-plannable.

I headed back to the motel, stripping my clothes off and jumping under the pathetic drizzle of the shower. Chuckling to myself I remembered again all those frustrating times I'd got myself off to thoughts of her which, of course, then led to the reality of her, naked on all fours as I leaned over her naked ass, grabbing her hair and biting into her neck. I reached down to feel my hard length, throbbing at the recalled image of her, running my hand gently across the tip before grabbing my cock roughly in frustration. Bracing myself against the wall of the cubicle I closed my eyes and imagined it was her smaller, softer hand pumping hard, up and down in a rhythmic motion. At the same time I saw her looking back over her shoulder at me as I dug my fingers into her hips, pulling her back into me, driving myself deeper. The familiar tightening in the pit of my stomach hit and I cried out, remembering her pulsing around me, moaning in pleasure before collapsing beneath me.

I let the shower wash all evidence of my frantic ministrations down the drain, leaning my head against the wall and muttering a quiet curse to myself as the water ran across my neck and I caught my breath.

***************

Normally I'd spend long journeys alone in the car composing music in my head, it was the ideal time to do it, alone with no distractions, but speeding back home from Portland I found myself instead writing a mental email. It seemed the best way to approach Bella, to explain what was going on with me without getting distracted by other things...things like how desperately I wanted to be inside her again. I needed her to know that I was fresh out of a long term relationship, that I wasn't sure how I felt but that I couldn't walk away from her without finding out for sure. I needed to explain to her, like a massive girl, that she'd have to allow me to take things slowly.

And I needed to give myself the buffer of distance because I couldn't take her rejecting me in person.

Pulling into the parking space at the back of my apartment block I realised that I was ready to crash, the last couple of days had been hard work, really fucking hard, not least because my concentration was way off during the recording sessions and I'd had to put all my energy into staying focused. My bed was calling out to me but I knew I needed to get this email out of my head and so instead of giving into the siren call of the sheets I grabbed my gear and walked straight over to the coffee shop, ordering the strongest caffeine hit on the menu and settling down in a quiet corner. The words poured out of me and my fingers flew across the keys - the time I'd spent thinking about this email made it easy to write.

I hit send just as my phone chimed with a text message.

dude, some guy called Jasper just came in and gave me the third degree about you and Ang. Said he's friends with Bella Swan. Thought you should know.

I put the cell back down without replying, unsure what to make of Emmett's message. If she cared enough to send a friend to ask about me that must be a good sign...right? Or was it kind of crazy? And how did she know about Angela and I? Much more than she needed to know right now, if Emmett and his huge mouth were on their usual form.

Some guy coughed loudly, bringing me out of my daze.

"ISABELLA SWAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE UNDER THE TABLE?"

What the actual fuck?

I eased out of my chair, somewhere between furious and flattered that I appeared to have an insane but really fucking hot stalker, and approached her as she backed inelegantly out from underneath the table, waving an earring in my face and blathering something about coincidences.

Keeping my cool, I reminded her that I lived just across the street. She attempted to distract me by pointing out her friend - so this was Jasper - who I acknowledged briefly as Emmett's recent visitor before turning back to watch Bella's face blazing an increasingly hotter red. I spoke before I could think, frustrated that I hadn't been able to approach Bella on my terms, annoyed that she felt she had to go behind my back, kind of turned on by the way she was repeatedly smoothing her hands over her thighs and biting down hard on her lip…

"I think we need to talk, don't you?"

**A/N: Thanks to everybody who has reviewed, the encouraging words have really helped get this chapter out of me! I'm hoping this EPOV should have clarified a few things as far as his state of mind is concerned - I know a couple of you thought he was getting his own back on Bella or using her as a rebound girl.  
**

**Someone else mentioned that Bella was being ridiculous what with her hiding under the table and all. While yes, I did ham that up a bit I imagine that most of us can admit that, even as adults, falling for somebody can make you do pretty idiotic things sometimes.**

**Last but not least, I can't work out for the life of me how to give a public reply to your reviews so those I've got around to replying to have been sent a PM. If I'm missing a really obvious way to publicly reply please let me know because it'll save on these long A/Ns explaining the behaviour of my borrowed characters!**

**Thanks again for reading! EQx**


	5. Chapter 5

"_Bella," his voice was low and his eyes glinted with anger. If I got out of this without dying of humiliation - as a medical professional I hadn't heard of it happening before but there was a first time for everything - I was going to kill Jasper, I'd happily take the jail time, "I think we need to talk. Don't you?"_

Pulling a black shift dress over my head and stepping into a pair of low heels, I wondered how on earth Edward and I had gone from a meeting intended to be brief, straight-forward and then quickly forgotten about to something that was clearly fucking with both of our heads.

After the embarrassing debacle of that afternoon life seemed to go into fast forward. Edward had suggested we talk then quickly re-thought his statement as soon as I nodded my agreement.

"Actually Bella," he sighed, rubbing his hands vigorously over his face, "I'm so exhausted I can't think straight right now."

He'd told me to check my emails and then call me when I was ready to talk, _if _I was ready to talk. And then, almost as if he'd never been there, he was gone. I took a cab back to my place, Jas had offered to take me but I couldn't face talking about what had just happened and, more to the point, I was really, really pissed at him. We'd work it out, we always did, but right then I needed to be away from his teasing and focused on dealing with the sudden enormity of this Edward situation.

Once I was back in the apartment, Bowie tangling around my legs in anticipation of food, I rushed to my laptop, flipping it open and hurriedly poking at the power button. While it powered up I impatiently shook food into Bowie's bowl and he darted out from under the desk.

"So it's okay for cats to hide under tables but I do it and I'm some sort of freak," I scoffed, only half joking.

I poured a glass of red wine and settled down on the sofa before opening up my Gmail account. There it was, an email from Edward. It looked as though it'd been sent around the time I was cowering under a table spying on him like a massive asshole.

_From: Edward Cullen (ecullen )  
To: bellamarieswan  
Subject: Things That Happened_

Bella, I hope you'll forgive the delay in getting in touch with you, I've been out of town for work.

I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed our time together the other night and that I would love to see you again if you'd be willing to join me for an 'official' date this coming Saturday?

Before you reply I think it's important that you know that I've only very recently come out of a serious relationship. I don't want you to think badly of me and under any other circumstances I would never have jumped into bed with somebody so quickly, however as silly as it sounds I believe that we have some kind of connection and I think that I owe it to myself to see where this, whatever it is, might lead.

Of course I'll quite understand if you think I'm crazy and never want to see me again after reading this.

You have my number.

Edward.

I blinked at the screen. 'I believe that we have some kind of connection'...forget the rest of it, this was the thing that made my belly flip flop. It was as if those few words were typed in huge bold script while the rest blurred into the background. Maybe if I hadn't already known about his relationship with Angela, if I hadn't already had an initial freak out about it, I might have focused on that piece of information but with the Angela thing sidelined two things stood out:

1. Edward thought we had a connection, and  
2. He wanted to see me again

Or did he? He'd written this before under-the-tablegate. Had I fucked things up? He'd said we ought to talk but was it now less to do with The Connection and more to do with me being a crazy-ass stalker with a dbag surgeon sidekick? There was only one way to find out. I swigged back a huge gulp of wine and picked up my phone.

"Yes, I _do _have your number," I announced to the room, earning myself a dirty look from Bowie, done with his food and now licking his ass in front of me like it was an award-winning performance piece.

The phone rang but Edward didn't answer, instead I was sent to voicemail where a robotic voice told me that I ought to leave a message.

"Oh. Hi Edward, I er...so I read your email and...well, yes please. Yes, I'd like to go on a date with you on...I mean, if you still want to after, y'know, the _thing _at the _place_. So, anyway, let me know or, um, whatever. This is Bella by the way, Bella Swan. The one from under the table. Ok, bye."

A great success.

Incredibly he'd called me back almost immediately, apologising for missing me and explaining that he'd been asleep. The thought of him in bed...in _that_ bed...ruined me and the conversation quickly went to shit but still Edward confirmed that he wanted to see me. He named a place and a time and I agreed, unable to choke out more than a syllable at a time because I was too busy wondering whether he slept naked and, if so, was he naked right now?

I'd been given just less than two days to ready myself for my date, which should've meant I was calm, collected and knew what to say, what to wear and how to act. Ha! Forty minutes before I was due to meet Edward - the restaurant was at least twenty from my place - my hair was still wet, I had a tear in my stockings and I couldn't find a mascara that hadn't solidified into a clumpy paste. And, more to the point, I didn't have a fucking clue what I was going to say.

***********************

He stood as I approached the table, thirty minutes later than agreed.

"I thought you'd changed your mind," he said, pulling my chair out so I could sit. Wow, someone's mama had brought them up right.

"I'm sorry, there was a stockings emergency."

"Stockings?" his adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed the word and I allowed myself a mental victory lap.

Edward ordered a bottle of wine. As it arrived and the waiter poured I lowered my menu.

"Look…" I began.

"Bella…" he said at exactly the same time.

We did the whole 'you go,' 'no you carry on,' 'no, no, you," thing for a moment before I dove in.

"I'm so sorry for the other day, I don't know what the hell got into me."

He frowned, "yeah, it was pretty weird."

"I know, I was freaking out about what happened the other night. I thought you had a girlfriend and you hadn't called and then Jasper just wound me up and, yeeeeah…"

"What made you think I had a girlfriend?" He'd narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Balls.

"Facebook," I said in the tiniest voice, taking a huge, fortifying glug of wine.

"Oh Bella," he sighed, "why didn't you just ask me about it?"

"Are you mad? I wouldn't blame you if you were. I'm sorry about Emmett."

He chewed on a fingernail, staring at me thoughtfully. I felt a heat rising from my chest upwards. What was it about this motherfucker that meant I couldn't spend ten minutes in his company without blushing?

"I was pretty mad when I heard your friend had been speaking to Emmett. I don't understand why you'd go behind my back."

"I didn't realise you had a girlfriend."

"I _don't _have a girlfriend Bella, that's the whole point!" He snapped, "there was nothing for you to worry about, no reason for you to be sneaking around questioning my brother."

"Well, I know that _now_," our food arrived but neither one of us touched it, "I was worried that you were using me...I didn't want to be the rebound girl."

He reached over and grabbed my hand, his eyes burning into mine, "you were never the rebound girl Bella, you're much, much more than that. I know that sounds insane but there it is."

"Why didn't you call?" I felt like an idiotic little girl seeking approval from him.

"It was two days, I was working. I needed to think. Was it really that long to wait?"

"Yes," I stated, fixing him with what I hoped was a meaningful look, "far too long."

"Jesus," he groaned, "I swear you're the most maddening person I've ever met."

"I don't know what you mean," I chirped innocently, touching his shin with a stockinged foot, just briefly, just because.

Hesitating, he appeared to consider what he wanted to say, "I don't really know what this is," he indicated each of us with a sweep of his finger, "and as you're now aware, thanks to your snooping, I'm fresh out of a relationship and not at all ready to date," my heart sank about a foot, "but I really feel like we need to...I don't know…"

"See where this," I mimicked his finger point, "is going?"

"If you'd like to."

I nodded, not trusting my mouth with words - I'd proven myself to be so incapable of stringing a coherent sentence together around Edward that it didn't seem worth the risk of saying something that might cause him to change his mind.

"Okay," he smiled, "now eat, your pasta's going cold."

Neither Edward nor I ate much but we talked plenty while we drank a buttload of wine. He told me more about Angela, about how they'd drifted apart over the course of a few months, how the ski holiday had been a last ditch attempt to salvage their relationship and how it was, despite outward appearances, the final nail in the coffin.

We spoke about some other shit too; music, movies, our jobs...the usual getting-to-know-you stuff which was all, by the time the first bottle of wine was shaken empty, clearly a distraction from the fact that both of us were more interested in other things. Things like me languidly rubbing a foot up and down Edward's leg and him fixing me with an intense, unblinking gaze as he slowly sipped his wine then dragged a firm thumb across his bottom lip.

The waiter appeared at the side of the table, distracting us both from a meaningless conversation, "would you like to see the dessert menu?" he asked in a thick Italian accent.

"No thankyou," I snapped at the same time as Edward curtly asked for the cheque. Upon its arrival Edward threw down a handful of bills, and stood up not waiting for his change.

We collected the car and he drove to my apartment in complete silence. I felt like there was so much more to say but for the life of me I couldn't think of a thing. Maybe it was better to just be quiet for once in my life, concentrate on watching his hands grasping the steering wheel and the muscles in his forearms contract and release as he steered. What was it about rolled up shirtsleeves that slayed me? It was something that Jasper ribbed me about incessantly, pointedly rolling up his sleeves and whispering 'does that turn you on Swan?' in my ear at every inappropriate opportunity he could find, usually in front of a senior member of staff.

_Fuck off Jasper. _He was the last person I wanted to invading my head.

Far too soon we were parked outside my apartment block and he was pulling open the passenger door so I could step out onto the sidewalk.

"Do you want to come in for, uh, a coffee or...something?" I stuttered.

"I think," he shut his eyes and breathed out heavily, "it would be a bad idea."

"Oh. Right. Okay." way to mortify a girl.

"It's not that I don't want to, I do," he fixed me with that gaze again, leaning down to me and tipping my chin up with a gentle forefinger, "I _really _want to."

"But?" I pressed my lips to his, standing on my toes and holding onto the front of his shirt, the wine playing havoc with my balance.

"We should.." I kissed him again, more firmly this time, sliding a tongue against his bottom lip before pulling away, "we should take things slowly Bella," he rasped.

I pouted up at him, running a hand down his chest, hooking a finger into the front of his jeans to pull him closer, "I can do slow."

He growled then, grabbing me by the tops of my arms and pushing me back into the side of the car, roughly crushing his lips against mine. I gasped in surprise, returning his kiss with clashing teeth and roaming tongues, letting him nudge my head to one side, licking and biting his way down my neck to my collarbone. His body was hard against mine and I could feel the evidence of his arousal against my stomach.

"You're killing me Bella," he hissed, pulling on my earlobe with sharp teeth before stepping away, "you need to go inside now. Alone."

"But…" I protested, flushed and wet, desperate to drag him up the stairs to my bedroom.

"No, we're doing this the wrong way round," he stated firmly, gallantly ignoring my ragged breath and the obvious bulge in his jeans, "we need to slow down. Please try to understand."

I fought between being calm and understanding and being pissed at him for getting me to the point of unravelling out here on the fucking street then throwing down the cockblock.

"Fine but you better fucking bring it next time Edward Cullen," I grumbled, turning towards home.

He caught hold of my hand and planted a last soft kiss on me - what's the male equivalent of a prick tease?

"I'll call you. Tomorrow I promise," he gave me a sly smile, "I don't want to see what might happen if I leave it too long again."

**A/N: don't kill me for sending Bella home horny, you and I both know that Cullen won't hold out for too long. Thanks again for reading, reviewing and being generally gorgeous. There may be a couple of days break before the next chapter is posted but I won't leave you hanging out for a lemon too long.** EQx


	6. Chapter 6

"What the hell?" I sat bolt upright in bed, my heart pounding out of my chest. There was a hammering like someone was breaking down the door. I glanced at the alarm clock, its glowing red numbers telling me that it was after 2am.

Even now there was a dull ache between my legs, left by fucking Edward and his fucking self control. After he'd forced me into my apartment, I'd made straight for my bedroom, desperately yanking open my bedside drawer and tipping its contents onto the floor on a hunt for the vibrator Jas - comedian of the motherfucking year - had bought me as a joke after we split. I ripped off my soaked underwear and went to work on myself but it just wasn't happening. It wasn't that I couldn't bring myself to do it or that the vibrator wasn't doing the job, I just...couldn't, it wasn't the same. I cursed Edward and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and take a cold shower, throwing the neon pink replacement-dick into the sink in disgust with my pathetic self. It was at times like these I needed girl friends, not just a smartarse ex-boyfriend who struggled to find natural disasters serious, nevermind my sex life. Shoulda been nicer in school Bella.

The hammering continued as I slid out of bed, scrabbled underneath it for the pepper spray my father had given me when I moved to city and crept towards the front door, ready to take on the home invaders, kidnappers or zombies waiting in the hall.

I eased open the door, the little can raised in front of me, a finger on the spray top but it fell to the floor as the unexpected visitor forced open the door and grabbed me.

"Bella," Edward growled into my neck, "you have no idea what you're doing to me."

He'd kicked the door closed behind him and had me up against it, a leg hoisted up and wrapped round his waist before I could even think.

"What.." I stuttered my words out between his hard, almost painful kisses, "what are you doing here?"

"I don't know. You're like a drug. I couldn't…" he sighed, "please can we not talk?"

That was fine with me, I found it hard to get the right words out when I was around him at the best of times, god only knows what might come out of my mouth if I tried to talk while he was grinding into me against my front door. I didn't really care what had changed his mind, I just knew that I wanted him...no, I _needed _him_._ He said I was like a drug, he was my own personal brand of fucking heroin.

Suddenly he stopped, pulling away from me. I whimpered at the loss, throbbing with want right where he'd been rubbing himself against me through our clothing. He knelt down on the floor in front of me, looking up with the smuggest grin I'd ever seen, an eyebrow raised, hands pushing my t-shirt up to expose my stomach. He laid soft kisses along the skin above my sweats - because _of course_ he didn't want to do this when I was wearing stockings and tiny scraps of lace - making my skin burn beneath his lips. Gradually edging the grubby old pants down, centimeter by agonising centimeter he continued exploring my skin with his mouth, causing me to moan in frustration.

Eventually he slipped the sweats off, picking up one foot at a time to remove them from me completely, leaving me exposed in front of him. Dipping his head he slipped an experimental tongue between my folds, eliciting a whimper from me as it passed over my clit. I threw my head back, crashing it against the door, knowing it was going to hurt later but not caring and moaned wantonly as he continued, plunging his tongue inside and then running it back up to swirl around the tiny mound that sent electricity shooting up through my body with every pass. He added a finger, then two, expertly curling them to find the right spot, his tongue working me outside while his fingers added pressure from within. In seconds heat spread from an unspecified point in the pit of my stomach through my entire body, I grabbed him roughly by the hair, pressing him closer while I ground my pelvis into his mouth, not giving a fuck that I was probably suffocating him. My legs gave out and I slid slowly down the door, loudly cursing, as I was forced to push him away, the sensation too much to take any longer as my ass hit the floor, my legs inelegantly spread in front of me like a broken doll.

Edward crawled his way back up my body, kissing me hotly, letting me taste myself on his tongue. He pulled me into him, cradling me while I found my breath and mumbled, "that was…" before I realised that my brain had lost all ability to think in more than one syllable and left it at that.

"You think that's it?" he scoffed. Of course I didn't think that was it, I had no intention of that being anything approaching 'it' but in that moment I couldn't even manage to roll my eyes at him, nevermind give a witty comeback or list the 87 different things I wanted to do to him.

Instead I bit down on his bottom lip, hard enough to make him jump and whispered 'bed,' standing to guide him towards the bedroom, kicking all the shit I'd left lying on the floors as we went and kicking my brain into action as best I could.

"Is the cleaner due?" he mocked.

"I wasn't expecting visitors," I said, seating myself on the edge of the bed, smoothing the sheets around me. Edward made to follow but I put a restraining hand on his chest, "undress."

His eyes widened, "what?"

"Take. Your. Clothes. Off," I fixed him with the most serious look I could muster, "slowly."

With no arguments he slipped his shoes off, kicking them to one side, getting rid of the always awkward socks at the same time, because nobody likes to find themselves in a socks-last situation. Then he fiddled with his watch, taking his time unclasping it and setting it on the bedside table.

"Don't fuck around with me Cullen," I threatened, "shirt."

He obliged, one button at a time, slowly exposing his well-defined chest, not too muscled, not too tanned. The metal click of his belt drew my attention downwards to where he was flicking the fly of his jeans open, easing them down his legs without taking his eyes off me. I grasped at the sheet to keep myself from jumping up and finishing the job myself, letting him remove his black boxer-briefs himself. His gaze still fixed on me he reached down and took his erection in his hand, stroking himself while I watched.

Three strokes in and I couldn't take it any longer, demanding he come to me. He obeyed willingly, pushing me down onto my back and lowering his body onto me, reaching down to find me wet and ready again.

"Nope," I smiled, pushing him off of me, "lie down."

"Fuck," he hissed as I swung a leg over, languidly slipping against his cock, waiting until he was gasping before raising myself to allow him to slip inside. I paused adjusting to the sensation of being filled before beginning to move.

Edward placed his hands on my hips, trying to control my movements but I refused to let him take over. He'd taken charge of my pleasure, now it was my turn. I grasped his wrists and pushed his arms away, he didn't fight it but did move his hands to my breasts, kneading them experimentally, "is that allowed Ms. Swan?"

I knew the Ms. Swan was a joke but at the same time I filed that little idea away for later use.

Moving faster all the time, taking in all of him with each thrust, I rode Edward until we were both on the cusp of coming apart. Second guessing what he needed me to do I shifted up a gear, leaning back to grasp his legs, giving myself leverage and making sure he hit just the right spot.

"Bella…" he warned and the sound of his low voice ripping from deep in his chest tipped me over the edge. I came, forcing myself down on him almost painfully, making him shout out with his own orgasm at the same time.

Later on wrapped in sheets, still naked, Edward finally spoke, "that wasn't quite the plan."

"No."

"I don't think I'm going to be able to stay away."

I giggled like an idiot schoolgirl, "I didn't ask you to. Will it help if I promise to be careful with you?"

"I'm not a Ming vase."

"You know what I mean."

He silently contemplated, "yes, it does help actually."

I smiled into the darkness of the bedroom, "okay then."

**A/N: *blush* everyone loves a good lemon yes? Think Bella can manage not to break poor old Edward? Who knows, this was only meant to be a one shot, I'm not even 100% sure where we're heading! EQx  
**


	7. Chapter 7

It took me a moment to register where I was but a weight across my chest confirmed that it hadn't all been a crazy dream and I was indeed in Bella's bed. I hadn't intended to be, I had meant it when I told her I needed to take things slowly, but it was impossible to stay away.

After dinner the previous night I had summoned all my strength to send her home alone in spite of her best efforts yet rather than taking my own advice and heading to my place I drove around aimlessly for a long time, repeatedly passing by her block. By 2am I could take it no longer, slamming my breaks on, not caring about the time or giving any thought to disturbing Bella's sleep.

I'd be lying if I said she was a beautiful sleeper. Although her features were utterly perfect to me, her mouth hung upon and there felt to be a damp patch where she had drooled onto my chest. And she snored. Even so, I watched her for a while, enjoying the sated feeling of a man who had just had incredible sex, for a second time, with the woman he'd spent years dreaming of being with.

I eased myself out from underneath Bella's sleeping form, careful not to disturb her - only fair after my late night wake up call - and pulled my clothes on. I'd spotted a cafe just along the street during my drive and ran down there to grab coffees and pastries for us both. Letting myself back in, my arms full of breakfast goods, I found Bella standing in the living area of her apartment, chewing a nail.

"I thought you'd left," she sighed with what seemed to be relief, "is that for me?"

I nodded and handed her a steaming coffee, dropping the bag of pastries onto the sideboard.

"I wouldn't leave without saying goodbye, not now I know about your stalkerish tendencies. I will have to go after breakfast though," I regretfully informed her, sliding my arms around her waist and kissing her neck tenderly.

She pouted childishly, "why? I want you to stay."

"You know there's nothing I'd love more than to spend the day right here, ravishing you but I've promised to meet my brother and sister for lunch."

"Ravishing?" she snorted, "I don't think anybody's ever _ravished_ me before."

"Are you trying to antagonise me Bella? Because I think we both know you've been ravished."

She shrugged, reaching past me to grab a bear claw, taking a huge bite out of it and stepping away. We sat on the couch, joined by Bella's strangely disarming cat - I swear the fluffy little bastard was sizing me up.

"You could come along you know."

"After the Emmett thing? I expect he thinks I'm a psychopath. Besides I'm meeting Jasper."

She explained that the two of them hadn't really spoken since coffee shop-geddon and that she felt 'like a complete douche' for blaming him, especially now things were okay with the two of us.

"Bring him along," I spoke before thinking, remembering too late that I didn't like the guy, not least because Bella had told me the night before that they had dated.

"Really?" she bounced in her seat, "you'd do that for me?"

I realised then that I'd do anything for her. After only two encounters - three if you counted the one she spent under a table - I was falling for her all over again, recalling the feelings I'd had as a teenager, my desperate need to be near her, to make her smile, to, weirdly, smell her hair. If I didn't know better I'd say it was love.

****************

Arriving at the bar earlier than arranged, freshly showered and dressed, I pre-warned Alice and Emmett to play nice. Alice had a tendency to overdo things and I worried she'd have Bella and I married off with three kids before lunch was over and I really didn't want Bella running away in fear of three layered cakes and white puffy dresses.

"Don't worry Edward," she was strangely serious, "I'm as against you rushing things as you are this time." I hadn't told her that I was very much rushing things.

Bella and Jasper arrived together, her looking apprehensive, him like an ass in his fancy 'I'm a big deal' clothes. I strode over to her, kissing the top of her head and weaving an arm around her waist, "they're nice you know."

She whispered back "I know," but looked no less concerned.

Emmett was already leaning across the bar, calling Jasper 'dude' and involving him in some elaborate handshake. So much for brotherly solidarity. I introduced Bella to Alice, who was surprisingly cold.

"Hi, nice to see you again," she pecked Bella on both cheeks without so much as a smile.

"Have we met before?" Bella asked innocently. I didn't really understand why Alice was behaving so strangely, after all she was the one who had encouraged me to go after Bella.

"Of course you wouldn't remember…"

"Let's take a seat," Emmett launched himself over the bar, ignoring the simpler route through the gate, "Rose is cooking up something good out back."

Right on cue Rosalie sashayed in on high heels, carrying a huge dish of lasagna, "thanks for the help Em," she banged the dish down on the table pointedly.

"Shit, sorry. I'll get some forks and whatnot," he dashed off after his wife. There was a moment of total silence, unusual for any situation involving my motormouth sister. She was sat opposite Bella, fiddling with a napkin while fucking Jasper stared at her in a way that suggested he might eat her.

"Did we know each other well in school then?" Bella ventured timidly but obviously doubtful.

"Not at all," Alice replied to the table, clearly with something on her mind.

"So, Alice, what do you do?" I was suddenly glad that Jasper was here.

She lit up, telling him about her job as a Visual Merchandiser, dressing windows for the big department stores in the city. It took the pressure off of Bella until Emmett and Rose returned, laying out cutlery and napkins, Rose serving up huge portions of lasagna.

The group relaxed during dinner although Alice remained curt with my girlfriend - _fuck, where had that come from? Girlfriend?_ - Emmett and Rose focusing on asking Bella about herself while Alice and Jasper were deep in conversation. If that motherfucker was hitting on her…

Rose followed up her main course with a tiramisu that none of us apart from Em could finish and we sat around drinking a new beer he was trialling.

"Alice, is there something up?" Rose, never backwards in coming forwards, demanded, catching Alice shooting Bella another look, "spill."

**A/N: Just a short one this time, giving Alice some time to think about what she wants to say! I'd love to hear from you all, it really helps to know what you think - good or bad. As I said last chapter I haven't really planned this baby out so I'd love to know where you think these kids should go...think of it as a semi-Choose Your Own Adventure with sex. Hey! I should patent that idea. EQx**


	8. Chapter 8

"_Alice, is there something up?" Rose, never backwards in coming forwards, demanded, catching Alice shooting Bella another look, "spill."_

So far, so uncomfortable. Alice, who Edward had assured me was the sweetest little sister anybody could hope for, couldn't have given me a colder shoulder. I was filled with dread when she said we'd met at school - I couldn't remember her no matter how far I dug into my Edward-addled brain - but wasn't sure how to take it up with her because she didn't seem to be in any mood to talk. At least she wasn't in a mood to talk to me, Jas was charming the pants off her and I needed to stop that pussy-killer before his inability to treat girls right ruined everything.

"Alice?" Edward raised his eyebrows at his sister, who put her drink down reluctantly.

"We did meet at school Bella," she explained, "the first day you arrived. I was assigned to show you around?"

I vaguely remembered arriving at Forks High School but to be honest, I'd done my best to block that shit out. Reliving the worst time of your life isn't that much fun.

At great length Alice told us that, huge surprise, I'd been a total cowbag for the whole week she'd spent attempting to befriend me. She had, she said, gone to great lengths to help me out; introducing me around, chaperoning me from class to class, giving me the gossip on everybody from the headmaster down. And there was the problem, the big ass Bella-shaped problem.

"I know that I shouldn't have told you any of that stuff but I never thought you'd use it to be so mean," she whispered, her eyes glistening, making sure I knew exactly how much of a bitch I was, "I _thought _we were going to be friends."

"Jesus Alice, I'm so fucking sorry," I rested a hand on hers, not knowing what I could say other than that.

"Nobody would speak to me after that, it didn't take much for the other kids to work out who had told you."

She recalled the girl who left for a year to deal with no longer secret pregnancy, the cornerback with VD, and Mr. Grace, who got sacked for an affair with a student teacher.

"Everybody knew those things," Edward said, Emmett nodding in agreement.

"But nobody taunted them about it," I sighed, "if I hadn't used it all as ammunition Alice wouldn't have lost all her friends."

"You weren't kidding when you said you were an asshole hey Swan?" said Jas, "if it makes you feel any better she's the awesomest now," Edward squeezed my leg a little too hard at Jasper's compliment.

I explained to her as I had to Edward, that I had pretty crappy divorced parents, was messed up by their split, taken away from my home, boyfriend and friends in Phoenix and just took it out on everybody else. I apologised again and again, telling her there was no excuse for the way I'd been, that I was so sorry I'd forgotten all about her, that I had been trying to make amends.

She gave me a watery smile, "I do sort of understand. I thought I was over it until I saw you today, and then it all came flooding back. But look, if you're who Edward wants then I'll support him and do my best to forget all that. Who knows, maybe we'll finally end up friends," she was grinning over at Jas as she quoted him, "now that you're the awesomest."

"You are," Edward muttered in my ear, his hot breath on my skin only making me want to drag him off to the bathroom and have my wicked way with him.

"I don't feel it," I murmured back.

Emmett suddenly shot out of his chair, announcing that he had something he needed to get, clambering over Rose before disappearing upstairs, "damn monkey man," she complained, adjusting her top. He was back before we knew it, throwing a book I'd recognise anywhere down onto the table, looking mighty fucking pleased with himself.

"Noooo," groaned Edward, "why would you do this to me?"

"Forks High School yearbook, 1997," Jasper read, "fucking amazing!" He grabbed for it before anyone else could, flipping through the pages urgently. He came to a sudden stop, stared for a moment and then laughed like a motherfucking hyena.

I snatched it out of his hands with a snarl, whacking him on the arm before turning my attention to the old picture of me. I looked like Robert goddamn Smith, all backcombed hair and black eyeliner. I felt for the scar where the little hole for my lip ring had healed up.

"My brother certainly thought that angry crow thing was hot," Alice giggled, "even if you did look like a lunatic. Not even an 'inspirational quote' Bella? Tut tut."

"They probably didn't have enough stars to cover the expletives," Emmett took the book, "but wait until you see this Doc: 'Do or do not, there is no try' this nerd quoted Yoda."

He pointed to the picture of Edward, braces on his teeth, wire-framed glasses and the worst haircut of all time - did people really still wear mullets in the 90s? I looked at him, sitting there next to me, fuming at Emmett, green eyes flashing. How the hell did that dweeb turn into the hottest thing I'd ever had in my bed? Lean and muscular, with a strong jaw and ridiculously cool mullet-less hair, the kind of hair I wanted to tug at while…

"And look at Al too," Emmett was practically jumping up and down in his excitement, his voice progressively higher, causing Alice and Edward to both look increasingly fucked off.

"Shit, it's no wonder I didn't recognise you Alice, you look so different now." Her picture showed a mousy little thing, non-descript light brown hair hanging in her face, just a glimpse of a grey sweater, nothing like the pixie-ish bombshell sitting opposite us with her short black haircut and subtle make-up, clothes quite clearly high-end. She'd obviously gone through the same insane transformation as Edward.

Rose took her turn, laying the book out flat to show a group picture of the football team surrounded by individual shots of each player. Emmett looked no different and somehow it was even funnier than how much we'd all changed.

"Hey! Older and wiser," he said with a slow nod, "older and wiser man."

"I hope so, check out his inspirational quote," Edward handed the book to Rose to read out in her best dramatic voice.

"'You don't know what hand you're gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you, to make each day count.' You didn't? How did I not see it before?"

Emmett actually blushed, "what? Titanic was kind of a big deal back then. It made an impression."

****************

"How do we leave without seeming rude?" Edward whispered, running a hand up my thigh. My breath hitched.

"Why would you want to leave?" I breathed into his ear, lightly biting it, pretty sure nobody was looking - they were far too busy screaming with laughter and making sure Emmett's new guest beer was thoroughly sampled.

Edward run his hand just that little higher, the side of his hand just brushing the crotch of my jeans. My breath hitched not so much at the sensation, blocked by the evil denim, but at the thought of Edward's hands on me and his obvious need to get me alone.

"So," I stretched and loudly fake yawned, "I've got an early shift tomorrow so I should probably just, y'know.." I cocked my head at the door.

"No, you're on the 4 'til…" Jas cut himself off in response to my I-will-crush-your-fucking-balls death stare, "mmm, you should definitely get some sleep Swan, you look pretty damn tired. Awful in fact."

Edward was already out of his seat, gathering our jackets, and giving a cursory wave, "thanks Rose, bye then everyone."

"Thank you for everything Emmett, Rose," I smiled, genuinely touched and surprised that they'd been so sweet to me, before turning to Alice, "I really am sorry."

"See you soon Bella," she replied before turning back to Jasper and totally falling for his signature 'you've got something in your hair' move. Predictable bastard.

Edward hustled me across the road ignoring the big red hand telling us to wait for the taxis hurtling towards us and dragged me through the door. Inside the apartment he attacked like a man possessed, kissing my neck with urgency.

"Do you think Alice will forgive me?" I asked.

"I couldn't care less," he mumbled somewhere between biting on my neck and running a tongue over my collarbone.

"Edward!" I snapped, "it's important!"

"We'll talk about it as much as you want later," he pushed a hand up my top, eagerly pulling a cup of my bra to one side.

I whimpered out an 'okay' and let him do his thing, ripping his t-shirt over his head before attacking me again in a frenzy of hands and mouth, tugging at my jeans in a vain unbuttoning attempt. I laughed, reaching down to help him.

"Don't laugh," he growled, his pissed off reaction making me even wetter - turns out angry Edward was a turn-on. Another one filed for later.

Pulling me down on the couch, the bedroom was apparently too far to travel, he ground himself into me suddenly free of his pants - how the fuck did I miss that? - and only our underwear between us. He reached down to free his desperately hard cock, pulling my panties to one side and plunging into me without so much as a please, fucking me hard and fast until we both came loudly.

"I think Jasper was hitting on your sister," I said through ragged breaths while Edward pulled out, still covering my face with kisses - gentler this time.

"Really Bella?" he complained, "_really_? Right now?"

I bit my lip, "sorry."

"Talking about your ex and my little sister when I'm still inside you? I think" he lifted me off of the couch and made for his bedroom, "you should show me just how sorry you are."

**A/N: Apparently it's all about the sex, you dirty birds! So I shoehorned in a little mini-smut for your delectation, I think that deserves some love over there in the reviews section. And for those concerned that Alice was a cow...well, now you know. EQx**


	9. Chapter 9

"Alice...uh, hi."

She was perched on a low wall outside the hospital, wearing an expensive looking silk scarf over an expensive looking jacket and expensive looking shoes. She hopped down, cradling her coffee with both hands as she walked towards me.

"Hi Bella," she trilled, hugging me with one arm. While she'd said she was going to try to like me for Edward's sake but turning up at my workplace and hugging me was taking that promise weirdly seriously, "is he coming down?"

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"Jas of course."

"Wow. I didn't know...I mean, you guys are…?" my words tumbled out in a mess, "he was just called in for emergency surgery. Sorry."

Alice's face fell for just a second before she composed herself again, "it's the price you pay for dating a doctor I guess."

"Dating?" How the hell had Jas not said anything? Come to think of it, how the hell had they gone from strangers to dating in three days? What the fuck was Jasper up to? Last I heard he was juggling two women while he 'worked out the pros and cons'.

"Perhaps you and I could have coffee?" Alice smiled, ignoring the fact that she already had a huge takeout cup in her hand. I doubted her tiny body could take that much caffeine.

She followed me to the little place on the corner where most of the hospital staff usually took their breaks and although she didn't look all that impressed - admittedly it was pretty grimy - she politely slid into a booth opposite me.

"So, you and Jasper huh?"

She grinned a huge face-splitting grin, "yeah, me and Jasper. You don't mind do you Bella?"

I hesitated just a moment too long - just long enough to give her the wrong idea, "NO! No, of course not. Jas and I are just friends."

"But you dated?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

"Yes, but it was over before it started really. We're better as friends. Much better."

"What happened?"  
"Um," I chose my words uncharacteristically carefully, "we were on different pages, relationship-wise." By which I meant that he was completely unable to stay committed to any one woman for more than ten minutes. I was torn between warning her off in case she thought I wanted him for myself and hated me more than she already did, or saying nothing but risking her getting hurt and...um, hating me more than she already did.

"The thing with Jas," I began, looking at the tabletop, "is that it's difficult for him to commit to a relationship. What with his job and…"

"And what?" Alice wasn't stupid, she knew I had something to say and she clearly wasn't going to let me off before she had the information she wanted.

"Please don't take this the wrong way but he can be kind of an ass when it comes to girls."

Alice laughed this amazing musical fucking laugh, if someone had asked me to describe it I'd probably have to use some lame word like 'tinkling'. Whatever, it wasn't the reaction I was expecting.

"Oh Bella. I'm not an idiot, I had him pegged as soon as he walked into Emmett's place. He's a player, I get it."

"You're not bothered?"

"Of course not. I always get what I want," she put on a low, spooky voice and moved her hands in front of her as if she had a crystal ball, "I see a tall, blonde doctor in my future."

"This is really nice," I laughed, "I don't really have any girlfriends, just Jasper. I know we're not friends but...you know what I mean."

She tipped her head to one side thoughtfully, "I think my crystal ball says you and I have friendship in our futures."

**************************

"Do you have to go?" Edward whined, pouting too fucking adorably.

"Yes, I have to go. I can't exactly blow them off now."

"But you said yourself you hate shopping," I slapped away the hand that was creeping up my shirt.

I did hate shopping, loathed it in fact - everything from the dressing rooms to the perky assistants. But when Alice had asked me to join her and Rosalie on a Saturday afternoon shopping trip I couldn't say no. As Edward pointed out himself, if you're invited to go shopping with Alice you've made it into the inner circle. And the inner circle was where I really wanted to be.

"Is there nothing I can say that'll change your mind?" he kissed the back of my neck as I reached down to put my sneakers on, the bastard knew that move slayed me every time and I moaned, forgetting all about my shoes and turning to meet Edward's lips with my own.

"I'll be back later," I promised between kisses, "you can wait here if you like."

He eyed Bowie who was eyeing him back from his vantage point on the kitchen counter, his ears turned back unhappily.

"No, I've got some stuff to do," my cat and my boyfriend didn't seem to like each other's company very much, in fact Edward appeared to actively avoid being alone with Bowie, "why don't you call me when you're done with your Alice make-over?"

"I'm not getting a make-over," I scoffed.

"We'll see."

*******************

Alice yanked yet another dress off a hanger, handing it to me and crossing her arms with an expectant look on her face. For such a tiny thing she was pretty fucking bossy.

"Al, I really don't think Bella is much one for dresses," Rosalie yawned from her position in a purple velvet armchair, endless legs swung over one arm, inspecting her nails with an air of total indifference to everybody and everything around her. While Alice was bossy, Rose was downright intimidating. I hadn't noticed it during our previous meeting, so focused was I on Alice and Edward, but the combination of her quiet confidence, insane beauty and cool demeanor let you know that she wasn't somebody you wanted to be on the wrong side of.

"I'm really not," I agreed with a sigh, "I'm really sorry Alice, I don't think Operation Bella is going to be a great success."

She wordlessly delivered me her next pick, a strapless black and white plaid dress. I slipped it over my head and stepped out from behind the curtain, turning so Alice - wide, know-it-all smile plastered all over her face - could zip me up.

"You've done it again Alice Cullen," Rose drawled, sitting up to take notice as Alice made me twirl in front of the mirror. The dress draped softly from the waist, longer in the back than the front where it just touched above my knee.

"These," Alice bossed, holding out a pair of black, ankle strap shoes, which I obediently slipped my gnarly old feet into, "I guessed you don't wear heels but these shouldn't be uncomfortable."

I had to admit she'd nailed it, I looked like me but, at the same time, not at like me at all. I glanced at the price tag, "fuck-a-doodle-doo! Alice didn't you check the price on this thing? It's almost $800! Do you know how much nurses earn?"

"It can be a gift from Edward," she stated, unzipping the dress and shoving me back into the cubicle.

"Uh, Edward can't afford this either - struggling musician and all that."

Both Rose and Alice hooted with laughter and I suddenly felt stupid. What was I missing here?

"You do know who their Dad is?" Rose asked, disbelievingly.

"Oh baby girl," Alice pulled me to her side as I exited, still pulling my fly up. She was swinging the shoes - I noticed the designer brand name curled across the insole in gold - from a finger, "I'll go get this all boxed up for you."

She breezed off, calling out a cheerful 'hello' to the assistant at the desk.

"What's the name of the CEO at the hospital Bella? You know, the one you work at," Rose asked in an offhand sort of way.

"What?" I gave her my finest WTF face, "um, Carlisle Cullen, why?"

She raised her eyebrows at me. Click.

"Oooooohhhh."

I guessed that designer outfit wasn't such an insane gift from the family of a millionaire.

**A/N: Alice'll forgive anybody who lets her dress them up eh? Sorry it's such a short one, but you must admit it's not going badly for something that went from a one shot not even two weeks ago to a nine chapter story (although I'm still figuring the storyline out as I go...help!) with more or less daily updates. Massive thanks to those who have reviewed - and especially those who have reviewed more than once - it really helps me with little snippets of inspiration so do keep them coming. EQx**


	10. Chapter 10

I looked around the table at each one of my friends. I had a gang. I'd never had a gang before.

After Alice's shopping triumph she'd insisted on calling 'the guys' to meet us for dinner. It'd been a blatant ploy to spend time with Jasper disguised by an insistence that I was missing Edward, which wasn't entirely untrue. The feeling was apparently mutual - Edward was at the restaurant sliding into a chair next to me and grabbing handfuls of thigh within thirty minutes of her call. Emmett arrived next, greeting Rose with a bellowing 'dinner five!' which she ignored in favour of sending him to fetch her a cocktail. Jasper arrived later than promised, obviously trying to play it cool in front of Alice but failing dismally - not only was she pissed that he'd kept us all waiting but his devil-may-care arrival was totally wrecked by his puppy dog excitement. Given the opportunity there was a good chance he'd lick her face.

I'd decided not to take up the whole 'so your Dad's a millionaire? Oh and he's also my boss' thing with Edward. I didn't want him to think that the family money made a difference to me - it didn't, truly, although the new designer dress wasn't the worst perk in the world.

I cornered Jas on the way to the men's room - completely nothing to do in any way with the issue of the bazillions of dollars.

"Jas!" I hissed, beckoning him over into a corner.

"Oh Swan, I thought we were beyond this," he smirked, "I'm with Alice now, you have to move on."

"Ha-de-fucking-ha dickwad."

"Whassup sista?" Jasper's inability to speak to me like a fellow human being was constantly baffling.

"You're never going to believe who Alice and Edward's dad is."

"Who? The big boss? Mr C? The man upstairs?"

"You knew?"

"Uh doy," he mocked, "the name was the first subtle clue and then I unravelled that mystery like a regular motherfucking sherlock."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" I shout-whispered, grabbing him by his lapels.

"One, it didn't really come up. Two, isn't up to you to find out who you're doing the bad thing with? And three, doy," he tapped me on the side of the head, "now can I go pee please?"

I warned Jas not to say anything about Edward's father and he shrugged disinterestedly before sloping off to the bathroom.

"You okay Bella?" Edward asked when I arrived back to the table.

"Uh-huh. Ooh! Mushroom ravioli. Yummy!" He frowned in confusion then went back to perusing the menu.

Aside from Jas returning from the bathroom, patting me on the head and calling me 'shortbus', I managed to move on from the slight panic I felt knowing that Edward's father was my boss, I mean that son of a gun could fire me at will. But nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. Of course not.

Three bottles of wine down and another on the way - this drinking with the Cullens was something I was a big fan of and, judging by the way Jas was swooning all over Alice I'd say he was keen too - we were in full flow, Emmett arguing the merits of The Notebook in his loud voice, earning looks from the diners around us.

"I've got one word for you: Gosling. Am I right girls?"

"Something you want to tell me Em?" Rose arched an eyebrow.

"Yes Rose, there is actually," he got even louder, drawing the attention of the whole room, "I went to watch Blue Valentine without you. Not only that but I considered it to be Michelle Williams' finest performance since her days on the Creek. Say what you like."

"You watched Dawson's Creek?" I asked as Emmett retook his seat, waving an apology to an irate waiter heading our way.

"He has the boxset," Rose groaned from beneath the hands she'd cupped over her face in abject humiliation.

"Oh no," Alice murmured.

"Come on Al, it wasn't that bad. I mean yeah, Dawson was a douche but Pacey…"

She cut me off, shaking her head, "no, it's not that..."

"Bella? Bella _Swan_?" a voice behind me drawled.

"Hi Lauren," Alice greeted her with no enthusiasm.

"Alice! Long time no see!" she teetered around the table on high heels, pulling her into a hug that a boa constrictor would be proud of.

"Edward," she purred in greeting, running a finger along her collarbone.

"Lauren," he replied curtly, putting a protective arm around me. Her eyes widened.

"Trading down Edward? I would've thought you Cullens had had enough of this one in school."

I spotted Alice push a fuming Jasper back into his seat, "I don't mean to be rude but we're just in the middle of something here…"

"So I saw," she sneered down at Emmett before turning back to me, face full of malice, "so Bella how have you been? I heard you spoke to Jessica quite recently."

"We emailed, yes," Edward gripped me even more tightly.

"Hmm, I heard you were apologising for being so horrific back in high school. Funny thing, I didn't get anything from you yet. I guess the email got lost huh?"

"Seriously?" Alice was suddenly standing up, her fists curled at her sides, "you think _you're _owed an apology by anyone? At least Bella had the guts to do the right thing."

"I'd say she's doing more than just the right thing," Lauren threw a glance at Edward and I before calling back over her shoulder, "hey Jess, come say hello."

I groaned and slid a fraction further down into my seat. Jessica had made herself crystal fucking clear in her reply to me a few weeks back and I really wasn't sold on the idea of round two. But there she was, gleaming sheet of bottle blonde hair, business suit and stilettos, sashaying across the room to join Lauren.

"Hey," she gave us all a tight smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, "let's go Lauren."

"Let's not," Lauren snapped, "I'm still really interested to find out how this bitch ended up getting herself a happily ever after with the King of the Nerds. No offence Edward."

"None taken," he said dismissively.

"You fell for her sob story I take it?" she didn't wait for an answer, "something about a tough childhood. Well, you know what _Bella_," she snarled, placing flat palms on the table and leaning over to glare at me, "nobody has a perfect childhood but you didn't see the rest of us behaving in such a disgusting way."

Emmett choked out a laugh at that, "no, some of us just slept our way through the entire football team."

"Don't forget the basketball squad," Alice chimed in.

"Chess club," Edward barely disguised his words with a fake cough.

"Oh, you're _that _Lauren," sadly for Lauren she didn't know that when Rosalie put on her sweet voice it normally meant there was a shitstorm coming your way, "Emmett's told me all about you."

"And you are?" Lauren looked Rose up and down, her confidence appearing to falter for just a second as she took in Seattle's very finest Ice Maiden smiling beatifically in front of her.

"Oh, I'm Emmett's wife and a _very _good friend of Bella's. Have you quite finished?"

"I…"

"Because let me tell you something; I know what a nightmare _you _were in school, not to mention the whoring around. Yeah, so Bella wasn't an angel either but at least she had the cojones to admit she was wrong because she's a good person,"

"A fucking awesome person," Jas corrected, suddenly finding his voice.

"Exactly. Fucking awesome," Rose cursing was pretty funny, "but you..._you_ clearly haven't changed a bit. Well you know what Lauren? You're not head cheerleader anymore, in fact you're pretty insignificant as far as anybody on this table is concerned. So why don't you take your little friend - Jessica, right?" Jessica nodded, "who, incidentally, needs to find herself a better friend, one that'll tell her shoulder pads went out, like, twenty five years ago - and go be bitter somewhere else because right now you're just embarrassing yourself."

Jas and Emmett high-fived each other down low.

Lauren us her best haughty look - not so impressive after a Rosalie Cullen smackdown - and turned on her heel barking "come on Jess, let's go, this place has gone seriously downhill."

"Thanks Rose," it was only then that I realised I'd been holding my breath.

"Oh Edward," Lauren had turned back to look at us, her sidekick burning a bright red next to her, "does Angela know about this?" she pointed to each of us. Edward said nothing, giving her exactly what she wanted, "I didn't think so."

Jessica mouthed a silent 'sorry' at Edward before scuttling away after her so-called friend.

********************

"It just reminded me of how awful I was," I moaned, tracing patterns into Edward's upturned palm.

We'd left the restaurant soon after Lauren's outburst, Emmett pretty much dragging a still furious Rosalie away, saying something about 'angry sex', while Edward trailed me out despite my protestations that he ought to stay and hang out with Jas and Alice, finish up his meal. We sat out in his car in silence for a long time before he insisted that I talk.

"Bella, you're nothing like that now and that's what matters."

I sighed, Edward didn't get it, he never would. No matter how many leaves I turned over that Bella, the one who treated everybody around her like shit, was still there underneath it all and no matter how many apologies I made and how many people forgave me I couldn't forgive myself.

"Angsting about it does none of us any good you know," Edward closed his fist around my hand, bringing it to his lips, "do you really care that much what Lauren Mallory thinks?"

"No. But I care what _you_ think. I don't know why you're with me. I mean look at you," I swept my free hand in his direction, "you're smart, kind, ridiculously hot."

"You're making me blush."

"It's not funny. You could have any woman you wanted, why me?"

"Silly Bella," he chuckled, "because you're smart, kind, ridiculously hot. And I don't care about anything that happened back then. Hell, based on the amount of hardcore boners I was nursing during biology class, I obviously didn't care all that much then."

I snorted out a laugh through the stupid tears that were leaking out despite my best attempt to get that shit plugged up.

"What about Angela?"

"What about her? We broke up…"

I interrupted him mid-flow, "she still deserves to hear it from you rather than Lauren fucking Mallory or one of her cronies."

"Sure, I'll call her. But can it be tomorrow Bella because right now I've got a problem that's giving me biology flashbacks."

I glanced down at the bulge in his lap, "Edward! This is serious!"

"So is this," he placed my hand on his crotch, "and it needs your attention much more urgently than anything else right now."

**A/N: Sorry to cockblock you guys and especially when I'm away for the weekend and won't be updating again until Monday. Thanks again to those who have reviewed and to those that haven't do it! Do it now! Happy V Day :) EQx**


	11. Chapter 11

"I feel as though something's come between us."

"Not yet it hasn't," I pushed my morning hard-on into her back.

"Very funny," she yawned, elbowing me in the chest, "I have to get to work."

It didn't take much persuading for Bella to roll over and straddle me, easing herself onto my cock and moving lazily above me, her eyes barely yet open.

"No foreplay?" I asked teasingly and she fixed me with a glare.

"I've got to be at the hospital in less than an hour. Now do you want to fuck me or not?"

I shut up and concentrated on the task at hand, palming at her breasts while she bounced away on top of me, hair in her face and hands resting on my chest, eager, I could tell, to get finished up so she could shower and grab breakfast. Knowing that I could be done pretty quickly I hastened her orgasm by reaching a hand down to press my thumb against her clitoris, moving in small circles until I felt the telltale shudder of her release, allowing myself to spill into her with a loud moan. She collapsed, laughing into my chest.

"Edward, this really needs to stop, I can't keep up with your sex schedule. I do have other things to do."

"Ouch," I kissed her on the top of her head as she rolled off of me to begin her morning routine, "are you saying sick kids are more important to you than my daily needs?"

She poked her head out of the bathroom door, talking through a mouthful of toothbrush, "twice daily needs. Minimum. And yes."

She arrived in the kitchenette fully dressed with still damp hair and minimal make-up fifteen minutes later, smiling as she took the coffee I'd brewed and the bowl of Cheerios I'd poured for her.

"I need to talk to you about something," I'd been meaning to bring up the subject of my parents for days but we'd spent so much time in a bubble of makeshift domestic bliss over the past couple of weeks that I just hadn't gotten around to it. We'd spent almost every day together, just hanging out, sometimes at my place but mostly at her's - to make it easy for her to get to work - eating takeout and having sex, watching television and having more sex. It was easy and fun and I was pretty sure that she was loving playing house just as much as I was. I didn't much want to spoil it with anything too real.

"You spoke to Angela?" she asked expectantly.

"no, she still hasn't returned my call. It's actually about my parents…"

There was an almost imperceptible shift in her expression that I couldn't quite fathom, "Oh? Really?"

"Yes, I thought it might be nice for them to meet you."

"Right. I uh…" she glanced at the wall clock behind me, "can we talk about it later? I really should go."

Leaving her half eaten breakfast on the counter she disappeared with barely another word. I had guessed that she wouldn't be that keen to meet my parents but I hadn't been expecting her to run like a spooked deer at the mere mention of them.

One thing I'd noticed about Bella over the weeks was that although she seemed happy to behave to all intents and purposes like a committed couple she was very vague when it came to putting a label on us. She avoided telling me too much about herself, preferring to make glib statements and jokes rather than be drawn into serious conversations. And when I'd told her over dinner one evening that I felt as though I was falling for her she had smiled sweetly and started talking about her chocolate mousse.

I agonised for the rest of the morning, unable to concentrate on the song I'd been working on during Bella's shifts at the hospital, wondering whether I should let us both off the hook by pretending I'd never mentioned my mum and dad or whether I should push on in the hope that I could convince her that taking our relationship seriously was a good thing.

Bella called just after midday to tell me that she'd have to work late tonight and that I ought to head home - she'd be shattered and bad company by the time she got back.

"I don't mind hanging out for you here," I told her, "I can have some food ready for when you get in."

She sighed, "I don't know how late I'll be and I really just need to get some sleep, these late nights aren't good for me. Do you mind?"

"Of course not," I lied, "I should get back and do some proper work. The guys at Midnight wanted me to go over some recordings."

"Okay. Good. I'll see you soon then."

"Sure. See you soon."

****************

In trying to take my mind off trying to decipher what had happened that morning I managed to get a huge chunk of work done, blasting through some ideas and laying down some chords that I thought would work for Peter's latest project - a female singer with an awesome voice and great lyrics but less in the way of compositional skills. Before I knew it it was after midnight and I hadn't even eaten much less done the laundry that I'd hefted back from Bella's place. I fell into bed, still in my boxers and t-shirt and quickly fell asleep.

I was awoken by a text message a couple of hours later.

_Sorry about before. I'm an ass. Bx_

I frowned at the screen. Did she mean sorry she'd sent me away or that she'd acted weird about meeting my parents?

_Forget it. How was your day? Ex_

Exhausting. Crappy. Emotional. Can we have lunch tomorrow? Bx

Sorry, meeting down in Portland. Thursday? Ex

When she didn't reply I called her.

"Did I wake you? I didn't realise it was so late," she mumbled into the phone.

"I'm glad you did. I was worried that you were pissed at me."

"Why would I be pissed?"

I sighed into the receiver, "because I brought up the whole meeting parents thing? I should've known you wouldn't be into the idea."

"It's not that, it's just...I'm so tired right now can we talk about it later?"

She told me about her day in vague terms and I told her about the track I was working on and the singer I was meeting in Portland.

"How old is she?" Bella asked.

"Dunno," I slurred, somewhere between wakefulness and sleep, "early twenties I guess."

"Is she pretty?"

"Are you jealous Bella Swan?" I mocked, feeling suddenly awake and more than a little smug.

"No," she replied indignantly, "a little. I don't want you running off with a hot young muso with long fingers."

"Long fingers?"

"Never mind. I'll meet your parents if you really want me to."

"Just to stop me running off with long fingered young girls?" I asked.

"Mmmm. And because I want you to be happy. I know I'm not very good at being a girlfriend."

"Is that what you are?" I asked, feeling my heart race a little faster.

She stifled a yawn, "I don't know. I'm not used to this kind of shit. Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

"You know I do."

"Alright then. In that case I'll meet your parents if you promise not to run off with some nasty musician slut."

"With long fingers."

"Good night Edward."

The line went dead and I fell into a deep, easy sleep with my cell phone still in my hand.

**A/N: just a quick chapter today after a weekend off - it was quite a big one and I'm still recovering, I wouldn't have liked to risk a big deal B/E moment in my current delicate state! Anyway Bella's gonna have to suck it up and meet the parents in the next chapter or so, I need to save my energy for that. Sorry not to have replied to those who reviewed last time but I guessed you'd all prefer an update. Do keep them coming, your notes always help me with moving the story forward. EQx**


	12. Chapter 12

Bella nervously smoothed her dress down over her knees again. I reached across the centre console of the car and placed what I hoped was a reassuring hand on her thigh.

"Stop it. They're going to love you."

"I doubt it," she muttered under her breath.

My girlfriend - I loved that I was allowed to call her that now, that she was _mine _- had been less than enthusiastic about meeting my folks and despite constant reassurance over the course of the week she'd become increasingly agitated.

"Bella," I turned to her as we pulled up outside the Pan Pacific, "I understand that you're nervous but I really think this is going to be okay. You know my brother and sister, Rose, they all think you're great, my parents will be no different."

"Your Dad is my boss…"

"I know, I know but why should it matter? I'm not like you, my life isn't separated into different compartments, for better or worse it's one big messy mass of work and family and _girlfriends_. I want you to be a part of the mess."

She laughed, "fine. Just don't expect me to wow your parents. I don't wow."

"You wow me."

She raised my hand to her lips, kissing my knuckles, "I…" she bit her lip, "let's go in."

We were greeted by Alice and Jasper, admiring Alice's own handiwork setting up the room in aid of the charity ball. The ceiling was swagged with richly coloured fabrics and hung with lanterns, giving the ballroom the feel of a huge, upmarket bedouin tent. Or so she'd explained, I had no idea what a bedouin tent was supposed to look like.

"You've outdone yourself Al."

"You think?" she asked, "better than last year's winter wonderland?"

"Better than last year and the year before and the year before that. She made it snow on the red carpet," I informed Jasper and Bella, both of whom looked suitably impressed.

"Are Rose and Emmett here yet?" Bella asked.

"They're having sex in the bathroom," Jas stated matter of factly, earning himself a nudge from Alice.

"They are not!"

"If you say so Al," he smirked, "but I know sneaking off to have sex in bathrooms and that's what they was a-doing."

Alice changed the subject, enthusing about Bella's new dress while Bella uncomfortably yanked the strapless bodice further and further up into her armpits. Rose and Emmett finally joined us to a comedy heralding trumpet from Jas, Rose waving off accusations of bathroom shenanigans while Em gave his new BFF a huge wink. Bella had finally begun to relax in the company of our friends so when I spotted my parents making a beeline for us I was almost tempted to steer her away to the bar, or even better home to my apartment to get her out of what Emmett had, much to her embarrassment, coined The Boob Dress.

"Alice!" my mother cried, "this is all so incredible. You've done such a beautiful job."

She hugged everybody in turn, pulling back to give Jasper her seal of approval while he kept his mouth firmly shut to avoid any faux-pas. Eventually she landed on Bella, giving her a beaming smile, "and you must be…"

"Nurse Swan," Dad interrupted, "Dr. Whitlock."

They both shook his hand, Bella's face burning a deep red and her eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

"You didn't mention this Edward," Dad fixed me with a steely glare which I met with my own, not knowing why he looked so furious but knowing whatever was happening I wasn't going to like it.

"_Carlisle,_" Mom hissed, "so Bella, how did you and Edward meet?"

Bella shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, stealing panicked glances at Dad, "well, uh, I guess we were at school together."

"And then they hooked up at the bar," Emmett chimed in, trying to dissipate the thick atmosphere, "Bella's great Mom."

"I'm sure she is dear. Edward didn't tell me you were an employee of the hospital," Mom frowned up at me, "but then Edward tells us very little."

"We should take our places Esme, they're about to announce us," Dad ground out through gritted teeth before turning to me, "you and I need to have a talk son."

The others melted away, leaving Bella and I standing in silence. She chewed on her bottom lip, refusing to meet my questioning gaze.

"So, you already know my Dad huh?" I ventured.

"You could say that."

I took her elbow and guided her out onto the veranda that wrapped around two sides of the ballroom, its pillars and rails wrapped in fairy lights, flickering candles gathered on wrought iron tables alongside empty champagne flutes left by the guests who were now taking their places for the dinner about to be served.

Bella leaned over the railing and I watched her for a moment, her face lit only by the tiny white lights. She was beautiful but looked desperately sad.

"I'm so sorry Edward," she moaned, still refusing to look at me, "I should've told you before. Your Dad hates me. He already hated me before today."

"What do you mean? Of course he doesn't hate you," I ran my fingers across her bare shoulders and down her arm, pulling her to me.

"I'm pretty sure he does. We've met before. At work."

I'd already guessed as much and I'd guessed it wasn't a good thing. My mind raced with possibilities but there was nothing I could think of that would explain my father's hostility towards Bella and her abject fear at meeting him. I'd first assumed it was something to do with the rich family thing - she was pretty pissed at me for not telling her about that but we'd talked it through and I was sure that she now understood I didn't want her to think I was a spoiled brat who couldn't pay his own way any more than she wanted me to think she was with me for money.

"And?" I asked, "what could be so bad that you couldn't tell me?"

"Fuck," she collapsed onto the steps leading down to the lawn, resting her chin in her hands, "I don't know if you remember but last year there was a nurses' strike at the hospital."

"Sure, I remember that. But that's no reason for Dad to be mad at you is it? All the nurses were on strike right?"

We missed dinner as Bella explained her side of the story. The nurses had gone on a strike over pay and conditions, upsetting the upper management of the hospital, the investors and, of course, my father. I remembered as much, Dad had been a nightmare to be around for the whole length of the dispute, even moodier and unreasonable than usual. The nurses, rightly, got their raises and everybody went back to their jobs.

"You know that pay and bonuses of the top level have to be made public every year right?"

I shrugged, "I guess so."

"Your Dad had been awarded a huge bonus, hundreds of thousands. It would have been enough to pay a whole department of nursing staff for a year. I organised a group of us and we took that information to the union and the shareholders. Your Dad was pissed, _really _pissed and threatened to have us struck off."

"He couldn't do that, he doesn't have…"

"No, and he couldn't sack us either. But he was furious. I can kind of understand it you know, he's got a huge responsibility up there, running a whole damn hospital, and he deserves to be paid well for that. But we also take on massive responsibilities, we see things day to day that he doesn't. I've seen nurses who make mistakes because they're too tired to function after they've pulled triple shifts just to make ends meet. They lose their jobs."

What I didn't know was that after months of fighting Bella and the nurses' union convinced the shareholders that Dad's bonus was unreasonable. They gave him an ultimatum - if he didn't raise salaries significantly and put a stop to unreasonable working practices they would exercise their powers to have him removed as CEO. They also demanded that he forego future bonuses and slashed his salary.

"You see, I haven't changed that much."

"What do you mean?" I demanded, kneeling in the grass in front of Bella, not caring about the dampness seeping into my best suit pants.

"I bullied your Dad into giving up something he'd worked hard for. I used information that wasn't mine to use to make someone else miserable. Just like I did to Alice."

"It's nothing like the same thing," I growled, "you were doing it for the right reasons and if my Dad can't see that then...well, fuck him."

She giggled, "that's easy for you to say, it isn't you that he hates."

"Trust me, I'm not his favourite person either. I lost all favourite son rights when I chose music over medical school."

"Really? That's not very fair."

"Sounds like you of all people should know that Dad doesn't really 'do' fair. You want to go home?"

She stood up, straightening herself out and holding a hand to drag me to my feet too.

"No, I think we should support the hospital by going in there and scavenging for expensive leftovers that probably cost as much as some kid's chemo."

"Really?" I asked, pulling her to me and putting my mouth to her ear, "because I can think of much better things to do than make small talk with a bunch of rich old people."

"So can I," she breathed back, "but I know for a fact that there's no free champagne at your place."

We re-entered Alice's bedouin extravaganza hand in hand, "plus," Bella turned to straighten my bowtie as we both spotted my unhappy father striding towards us, "you wanted to introduce your disgraced girlfriend to the folks, now we're both going to have to deal with the consequences."

**A/N: so looks like Edward's in for a lecture. I hope all that explaining wasn't too boring, I'm no nurse and no expert on pay and conditions in hospitals so you'll have to take it all with a pinch of salt.  
Massive thanks to everybody who has read, reviewed and followed this story so far - I think it'll have to come to a happy ever after pretty soon, maybe three/four chapters. I have a new idea brewing so by all means add an author alert ready for that. EQx**


	13. Chapter 13

Dad steered me out of the ballroom into a private office, shutting the door firmly behind him.

"I sincerely hope you're not in a serious relationship with that woman Edward," he fumed, loosening his tie.

"Not that it's any of your business but yes I am. And, for the record, she told me exactly what happened last year."

"Then you know," he lowered his voice, jabbing a finger at me, "you _know _that she's bad news. You know that she put my position in jeopardy, caused _huge _problems for the hospital."

"And I know that you threatened to have her struck off. Is that any better Dad? Well? Is it?"

"Perhaps not," he rubbed a hand across his face in frustration, "but you have to understand that she cannot be trusted. Edward, that girl is not good enough for you, she's a troublemaker."

I exploded then, burning with fury at him, all my resentment bubbling over, "and you Dad," I spat, "_you_ know what's good enough for me don't you? You know what's good enough for everyone - Alice, Em, Mom, none of us are capable of making our own decisions as far as you're concerned."

"I'm just trying to do what's best for all of you."

"No," I yelled, "you're trying to do what's best for _you_. Well, I'm not you Dad, I don't care what other people think, I don't care about having my name in the papers or shaking hands with the goddamn mayor."

"Keep your voice down Edward," he hissed.

"Oh!" I laughed, "of course we wouldn't want anyone to hear would we? I mean, what would all these very important people say? Can you imagine Dad, if they thought you were a real human being with," I lowered my voice, "actual feelings."

"That is enough," he bellowed, slamming a fist on the huge mahogany desk that dominated the room, "I have done nothing but try to help you Edward, but you - and your brother - continue to insist on making ridiculous choices just to defy me. I get it, you can make your own decisions but what good is it doing you? Do you think you can keep on running around with that guitar, playing your songs at Emmett's bar forever?"

"It's better than taking money from hard working people to pay for your next sports car Dad," I moved to open the door but he stepped in front of me, putting us toe to toe.

"You may think you know it all son but trust me, you don't. You've been lucky to be able to do as you please all these years but some day you're going to have to grow up and as far as I'm concerned the sooner the better."

"Do as I please? That's a fucking joke," I scoffed, turning my back on him and moving to stare out of the window where I could see guests milling about on the veranda I'd left just moments before, "you can't even trust me to choose a girlfriend."

"That girl is bad news Edward, believe me, I've come across plenty of people like her, people for whom political point scoring is more important than those who get hurt in the process."

"Don't be ridiculous Dad, she's a good person, she was trying to do the right thing and you know it. The only casualties were _your _bank balance and _your_ ego."

"Son" he sighed, sounding almost defeated, "what was wrong with Angela? You and she were a great couple, we thought you'd found someone who could help you get your act together at last."

I banged my forehead against the glass in frustration, "I didn't _love _Angela, and you and Mom trying to push me into marrying her was never going to change that."

"So what? Now you're choosing this, this...nurse over your own family?"

"Is that some kind of ultimatum Dad? Because believe me I will choose Bella over your bullshit every time."

He scoffed, his standard reaction to most of the things I'd ever said, "don't be ridiculous Edward, you barely know the girl."

"I know enough to know that I love her," I barked, turning to face him, to tell him to leave me alone.

"You love me?" Bella was standing in the doorway behind my father, her face pale. I nodded slowly while Dad just gawped at me, something approaching disgust on his face.

Bella let go of the doorjamb and strode across the room, unsteady on her high heeled shoes, until she was in front of me, reaching up to thread her arms around my neck and pull me down into a hard kiss, "I love you too," she whispered just loud enough to elicit a frustrated groan from Dad, who turned on his heel, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Want to get out of here?" I murmured into her hair.

*************

An hour later there was a knock on the door of my apartment. I extricated myself from Bella's grasp reluctantly and she groaned, annoyed at being interrupted during the grand opening of The Boob Dress. Pulling the door open I found my mother standing sheepishly with a box held out in front of her.

"Mom?"

"I brought leftovers. The food was so delicious tonight and I thought it was a shame you and Bella missed out on it."

"Uh...okay," I took the box from her and moved aside to let her enter.

"Is she here? Bella?" Mom asked, glancing around the small living area.

"Hi Mrs Cullen," Bella entered from the bedroom, wearing a pair of my track pants, a ripped up band t-shirt and a sheepish expression.

"You should call me Esme," Mom smiled, "I'd rather not share a name with my mother in law."

"If you think Dad's bad you should meet my grandmother," I explained, "she'd make a werewolf look like a functioning member of society."

"Edward," Mom scolded, "please don't say things like that. Even if they are true."

I watched as Bella fought to control her facial expression, sucking her cheeks in to keep from laughing. Mussed up in my old clothes with her make-up washed away she was even more beautiful to me than she was wearing Alice's expensive dress. And she loved me. Inner-sixteen-year-old did a victory lap.

"I want both of you to know that I in no way support my husband's idiocy. Bella, I hope you'll believe me when I say that Carlisle isn't a bad man even if he does behave like an ignorant ass at times."

Bella offered Mom a seat and a coffee, both of which she willingly accepted.

"I understand why Dr. Cullen is mad," Bella said, "I can't apologise for doing what I did but I am sorry that he was negatively affected."

"Nonsense," Mom chuckled, "that job has made him as rich as Croesus, and as arrogant. I love that man like crazy but I certainly don't mind seeing him brought down a peg or two once in a while."

"I told you Bella, you did nothing wrong," I pulled her into my side and kissed the top of her head. Mom watched us with a small smile on her face.

"Carlisle says you two are in love?" we both nodded, "in that case leave your father to me. Trust me, he _will _come around, he wants the best for you Edward, it's just that sometimes he can't see that you're able to decide what's best without his help."

As reluctant as I was to allow my father his say in my personal life I also knew, just as Mom did, that the path of least resistance was often the easiest route to take. And the fairest for those around us. Dad was never going to change and all I could do was continue living my life without an expectation of his acceptance.

Mom and Bella seemed to hit it off, laughing together as if they'd been friends for years. It made me ridiculously happy to know that my family - Dad predictably excluded - accepted the woman who, in just a few short weeks, had become the most important person in the world to me. I saw a future with Bella, a real future with a house and kids and a dog and, if absolutely necessary, her manky old cat. I saw Sunday lunches with my family and trips to the grocery store and the all the boring crap that went with being a couple.

Preparing to leave, Mom planted to firm kisses on Bella's cheeks before turning to me, grabbing my face and pulling me down to her height.

"Your father loves you," she said in a low voice, "he only needs to see how happy you are and he'll change his mind about her. I promise you."

"I know. Thanks Mom."

"Now if you'll excuse me I have to go kick some ass at home," she announced, breezing her way out of the apartment, pulling the door closed behind her.

***************

Leaning over Bella that night, catching my breath after the postponed conclusion of the dress removal, I felt more content than I had in months...years even.

"Are we allowed to call it Making Love now?" I asked.

She stuck her tongue out, "do we have to? I love you but..."

"It _is_ quite cheesy," I agreed, rolling us both over so she could rest her head on my chest, "do you think we're moving too fast?"

"Are you going to ask me to marry you?"

"Not for at least a couple of weeks."

She pretended to think, "then I think we're just fine."

**A/N: I know Carlisle up there bears no resemblance to the 'true' Dr C but I hope you'll allow me a smidgen of artistic license. As ever thanks to those who have read, reviewed and favourited, I love you all. EQx**


	14. Chapter 14

I wasn't even sure I should be there but Edward had insisted.

Seven months after we'd first got together Angela had called, out of the blue, suggesting she and Edward meet. He'd tried on several occasions to get in touch with her but after a few weeks gave up, assuming that she didn't want to speak to him - much less me - and that by that point there was no way she wouldn't have heard that we were a couple. I mean, by the time that Lauren had found out about us it was pretty fair to assume most of Washington State knew more about our relationship than we did.

Things had been going well; incredibly, ridiculously, well. We'd argued plenty, sure, what couple doesn't? Edward drove me crazy with his need to check I was alive every ten minutes while the mess I left my apartment - _our _apartment - in made him Hulk-out every few weeks. See, in spite of my questionable home hygiene practices Edward had enthusiastically hauled his shit over to my place the minute the lease ran out on his apartment. We'd only been together for a few short weeks at the time but it just seemed right that we should pool our resources and although his apartment was a million times nicer than mine it was too far away from the hospital - no, Dr. Cullen hadn't sacked me for stealing his son. Plus Bowie, now finally getting used to Edward, liked his set up as it was.

Angela's call had me worried. For she and Edward to have been so close for so long and then for him to be suddenly excommunicated seemed strange. Alice had seen her a few times and insisted she was fine but she'd cast such a shadow over the relationship - for me rather than Edward, who still insisted that they'd ended things on good terms - that I felt nervous, even more nervous than I'd been before meeting Edward's father. And look how fucking well that had gone.

"Come on Bella, you're being ridiculous. What could she possibly have to say now?" Edward opened the door to the Yellow Rose, holding it open for me.

"That she wants you back?"

"Don't be silly," he rolled his eyes, not for the first time that day. I had a buttload of theories about his ex-girlfriend's motives in calling him, none of them good.

He spotted Angela deep in conversation with Emmett at the bar.

"Ang," Edward greeted her, "hi."

She turned to face us, an orange juice in her hand and…_that _theory I had not considered.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath. At the same time Edward gripped my hand so hard that I thought he might break a bone, his face losing all colour.

"Edward!" she cried, hugging him tightly. As tightly as she could with me still hanging onto him for dear life and a huge baby bump between the two of them.

"You look...well," he smiled tightly, ignoring the huge, unignorable, elephant in the room.

"Thanks, you do too darling. So this is the new, improved Bella Swan?" She grinned at me, "I've heard all about you you know?"

"That doesn't sound good," I replied, my mind whirring and my stomach doing a pretty good impression of an Olympic gymnast.

"Well, most of it came from Lauren Mallory," she laughed, "so I assume it's all bull. Shall we sit?"

I glanced questioningly back at Emmett as Edward and Angela made for a booth, he only shrugged helplessly and continued his job of snapping tops off of bottles.

"So, you're…" Edward was absent-mindedly fisting and un-fisting his hands under the table and I grabbed them together with one of mine, trying to at least calm him down even if I couldn't do the same for myself.

"I know right? Bit of a surprise for everyone. But it's so exciting, I'm gonna be a mama!"

"Congratulations," I said with a tight smile.

"Don't look so nervous Bella," she giggled, pushing her glasses up her nose in a disgustingly cute maneuver, "all that school stuff is water under the bridge if that's what you're worrying about. And as for this loser," she poked Edward playfully, "he's _all_ yours."

She glanced up then, spotting someone entering the bar and waving. I turned to see the unmistakable lolloping form of Eric Yorkie, I hadn't seen him for years but unlike Edward and Alice he hadn't changed a bit.

"Hey guys," he slipped into the booth, kissing Angela full on the lips, "Bella, good to see you man!"

"So...you two?" Edward stuttered, looking from one to the other.

"Alice didn't tell you? I thought she might have said something," Angela said.

Eric reached over to squeeze Edward's shoulder, giving him a sympathetic look, "Dude, I kinda assumed you knew. There was no overlap I swear."

"I'm…" Edward signalled desperately to Em for a beer, "I'm a little confused. Overlap?"

"You guys know what it's like right? You meet the right person, you fall in love. There's no point hanging around at that point huh?" Eric kissed Angela again, rubbing her burgeoning belly affectionately.

"When are you due?" I asked Angela politely, guessing she must be about seven or eight months along.

"September seventeenth."

Eric laughed loudly, accepting a beer from Emmett who was now hovering next to the table, waiting for the drama, "she can't possibly get any bigger though huh? I keep expecting the little guy to explode out of her like a chest burster."

"What a lovely image for everybody to enjoy Eric," she cradled her bump cooing, "don't listen to Daddy, he's an idiot."

"Daddy? It's…" Edward choked on his beer. I slapped him hard on the back, harder than perhaps I intended to - the stress of the situation was making my body act in all sorts of weird ways.

Angela stifled a laugh, reaching across to pat Edward's arm affectionately, "oh sweetheart. You didn't think it was yours did you?"

I felt as though I was melting into a puddle of relieved sludge. In my mind I'd already set up a bedroom in our imaginary family home for Edward Jr. and was dealing with the stress of being a stepmother to a resentful teenager with greasy hair. The same relief seemed to ooze from Edward even as he awkwardly tried to deny that he'd thought anything of the sort while handing out the congratulations and back slaps that should've been given long ago.

As it transpired Eric and Angela had hooked up only a couple of weeks after she and Edward had split - Edward tried briefly to be indignant but was quickly silenced as he, I supposed, recalled how we had gotten together. Eric had long held a candle for her but never had the confidence to do anything about it until, as he explained, 'I realised I had to shit or get off the pot'. Angela fell pregnant almost immediately but, she assured Edward, she knew for a fact that Eric was the father.

"If the kid comes out and he ain't looking too Korean I'll give you a call," Eric joked, earning a stern look from his girlfriend.

I ran into Rose on my way to the bathroom a short while later.

"Jesus Bella, I thought you were in for a job as the Evil Stepmother there," she nudged me playfully.

"Don't even joke about it."

"What would you have done? If she _had_ been incubating Edward's spawn I mean."

I barely hesitated, "we'd have worked it out I guess. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."

"Aw," she hugged me tightly, a very un-Rose-like thing to do, "you'd even help to raise Edward's bastard children? It must be love."

*****************

"I've never been so terrified in all my life," Edward was opening Chinese takeout boxes back at the apartment while I dug the plastic chopsticks out from the back of a drawer. Edward kept threatening to buy one of those cutlery organisers from Bed Bath and Beyond but as yet it hadn't happened, he seemed to be easing me into the great re-organisation one small step at a time.

"Wouldn't you have liked to be a father though?"

He ambled over to help me find the missing utensils, eventually shrugging and handing me a fork, "I wouldn't have liked to have had a baby with Angela, no."

"You want to have kids one day though huh?" I asked, realising that the subject hadn't come up before and nervous that we could find ourselves at an impasse. I already knew that Edward was into marriage while I'd been pretty much against the idea my whole life - my parents weren't exactly the greatest fucking advert for married life and I certainly wasn't the poster child for the product of failed relationships.

"Sure, a whole football team. Don't you?"

I blanched, echoing his words, "_a whole football team?_"

"I'm joking Bella," he put his arms around my waist from behind and rested his chin on the top of my head, "but I want kids someday. Don't you?"

"I think so...I haven't really given it much thought."

"We've got plenty of time to think about it."

"We?" I smirked, twisting to meet his lips with mine.

"I wasn't planning on impregnating anybody else Bella," he was snaking his hands up underneath my t-shirt and unhooking my bra.

"Not now!" I squeaked in a panic.

"Of course not _now _silly," he chuckled, bringing his hands around to cup my now exposed breasts, "but we should probably start practicing as early as possible. I wouldn't want to get it wrong when the time comes."

"Ah, so this is like a dress rehearsal?"

Pushing my skirt up around my waist he muttered, "more like an un-dress rehearsal."

Then the talking stopped and the Chinese food went cold as Edward lifted me onto the kitchen counter, tearing my underwear down my legs and my t-shirt over my head. First one finger, then two found my centre, rubbing and teasing until I was moaning his name and begging for him to fuck me.

Edward never needed to be asked twice and before I knew it he was inside me, holding me against him as I writhed in pleasant agony, enjoying the sensation of him taking my weight as I barely clung to the edge of the counter, my legs wrapped around his waist.

We both came at almost the same time - somehow we always did - and he sank against me, resting his head on my shoulder while his knees stopped trembling.

"I think that was a pretty good run-through," he laughed breathlessly.

"Agreed. I really need a shower though, would you re-heat the food?"

"Do you ever think of anything other than your stomach?"

"Ummm," I pretended to think, "my stomach and your cock."

"In that order?"

"Not always," I ran a finger down his stomach towards my favourite part of him, causing him to hiss.

He grabbed me around my waist and threw me, screaming, over his shoulder, "then you won't mind if I join you in the shower before we eat."

**A/N: I've got one more chapter up my sleeve but a couple of folk have asked for a Carlisle/Esme outtake. Hands up if you'd like to see bad Daddy C getting his ass kicked. I quite like the idea...EQx**


	15. Chapter 15

_**Two Years Later**_

The plane finally hit tarmac and I released Edward's arm from my tight grip. Peering out at the lashing rain that was Seattle's trademark I felt a combination of sadness and excitement - sorry that our adventure was over and excitement about the new adventure ahead of us. We hadn't seen this city or the people who lived in it for over eighteen months and a part of me was apprehensive. What if everything was different? Did we still have the same things in common with our friends? Would we still enjoy our jobs? Could we go back to normal life after everything we'd seen and done?

"Home sweet home," Edward squeezed me to him as if he could sense me worrying beside him, "you made it around the world and back home again without once falling from the sky in a fiery blaze."

We hadn't _quite_ been around the world but the windfall from Edward's songwriting partnership with the not-so-long-fingered or slutty multi-platinum selling (and actually very sweet) recording artist Jane Jones, had allowed us to see a large portion of it. We'd trekked through the Himalayas, swam in the Caribbean, climbed the Eiffel Tower and watched the Northern Lights from a frozen lake in Finnish Lapland. It was more than most people would do in a lifetime and I'd been able to do it all with the most perfect, adorable and caring man anyone from Iceland to Australia could hope to meet. Yeah, I know, _puke_.

We picked up our backpacks from the luggage carousel and breezed through customs into arrivals. Edward stopped dead, yanking me to a standstill and spinning me around to face him, planting a lingering kiss on me. It almost felt like a goodbye and I knew, somehow, what he was wordlessly saying.

"Do you think we could just turn around and pick another destination?" I was only half joking.

"Mom'd kill us. She's probably bought half of Port Angeles for tomorrow's lunch."

So instead of skipping the country we scanned the waiting crowds for our designated driver.

"Bella…" Edward muttered in a threatening voice, "I thought we'd agreed to make the announcement together."

"Wha…? Oh," I followed his gaze to where Alice and Jas stood amongst the waiting chauffeurs and taxi drivers with their own large piece of card raised between them. It was decorated with doodles of hearts and flowers, the curlicued words in the center reading 'Mr & Mrs Cullen'.

On spotting us Alice crawled beneath the barrier and snared us both in one of her bone-crushing hugs, "if I wasn't so pleased to see you I'd kill you both for doing me out of a bridesmaid dress," she gushed. Jas followed, giving us both slaps on the back and declaring us 'sneaky fucking fuckers' before ushering us all towards the car park.

"You haven't told Mom and Dad have you Al?" Edward asked as we sped along the freeway towards the city, seeing the familiar skyline rise ahead of us.

"Oh no," she laughed, turning round in her seat to fix him with her very smuggest smile, "that pleasure is _all _yours."

Back at the apartment nothing had changed. The place felt familiar and unfamiliar all at once. There was my old sofa, still sporting it's fetching red wine stain, the television Edward always complained about and the same bookshelf bursting with the same merged collection of books, ranging from my Jane Austens to Edward's grunge band memoirs, all stuffed in and piled up. Alice had been in to dust the place off before our return and a huge bunch of spring flowers spilled from an oversized jug on the coffee table, filling the room with their scent.

"We should start looking for a bigger place," Edward grumbled, letting his backpack fall to the floor with a thump.

"Can we at least nap first?" jet lag was catching up with me fast, we'd fast forwarded a whole twelve hours between Moscow and home. Or had we rewound? I couldn't be bothered to work it out.

I awoke feeling vaguely refreshed, still in my traveling clothes with Edward curled around me on top of the comforter.

"What time is it?"

I squinted at the alarm clock, "ugh, it's not even one yet."

"Is it today or tomorrow?"

"I'm not really sure but I feel like we should be sleeping. Or not sleeping. I fucking hate jet lag."

"How about we do 'not sleeping' for a bit then move on to the 'sleeping' afterwards?"

Neither of us had a clue what we were saying but both took it as a vague indication that we should get involved in some lovemaking - yeah, we were using that term. Neither of us had enough energy for anything too athletic but somehow, even after all the beach sex and forest lodge sex and overrated mile high club sex, this was _it_. Just having him moving against me languorously, whispering in my ear and entering me from behind, lapping at the side of my neck with a firm tongue, grazing my sensitive skin with his teeth...it was always right but here, in our bed, it was even righter. We were home.

His fingers found their way over my body, sliding into my bra, pinching and tugging at a nipple before wandering lazily downwards, finding the place where we joined, slipping wetly across the place they were most needed until I collapsed around him, quietly gasping his name as he followed me over the brink. Then, without another word, we slept.

******************

"Sorry about that," Rose grimaced, giving Emmett a 'do something' look. He scooped up the sticky toddler, removing him from the area and into the garden of the beautiful family home Esme and Carlisle still kept on the outskirts of our hometown, saving my dress from falling victim to another chocolate finger attack.

"It's fine Rose, I'm sure he's just making up for fourteen months of neglect by his favourite uncle and aunt."

"Hey!" Alice piped up from her perch on the other side of the room, "William's favourite aunt - the one who's been _around - _heard that."

"If you and Jas get William then we're calling dibs on this one," Edward stepped in between Rose and I sweeping baby Anna out of her mother's arms to plant a tender kiss on her tiny nose. My ovaries went into meltdown and I groaned reflexively.

"You okay Bella?" Rose asked, taking a grateful sip from the glass of wine Edward had left unattended.

"Yep. Just still can't quite believe that you let Emmett name your kids after characters from his favourite Julia Roberts movie."

"I'm just glad that we already have an Edward in the family or poor Anna could've ended up the namesake of a fictional hooker instead."

Just then Esme breezed into the sunroom to call us in to dinner. Emmett darted ahead of us all, a football under one arm and a grubby child under the other, sliding William into his high chair before plucking Anna from his uncle's arms to deliver her sleeping form to the cot set up in Carlisle and Esme's spare room. From what I could tell he and Rose had this parenting thing down to a fine art and they made it look so easy that I was almost ready to give into Edward's desire to get on with reproducing. I knew he couldn't wait to get started, Edward was an instant gratification kind of guy, but I'd been hesitant - it wasn't that I didn't want children someday, I just didn't think I wanted them right away. But then I hadn't ever thought I'd want to marry anybody either.

"Is there something you'd like to tell us Son?" Carlisle asked loudly as I reached across the table to retrieve a spoonful of potatoes.

As if he could read his father's mind Edward's eyes locked onto my hand which was unintentionally flaunting the gold band I now wore. I cursed inwardly, hearing Jas murmur the same word under his breath. Alice had wheedled the tale of our impromptu marriage out of me during one of our epic overseas telephone conversations but I'd sworn her to secrecy, knowing that the news of Edward and I getting hitched in a rural Norwegian stave church with no guests, no white dress and no photos was something that we had to break to his parents ourselves.

"Well," Edward cleared his throat nervously, earning an encouraging nod from his sister, "Bella and I are...that is to say…"

"We got married," I blurted, "sorry we didn't tell you."

In the silence I swear I could hear Carlisle's brain ticking over. Even William had momentarily stopped banging his sippy cup on the table to stare at me with huge blue eyes.

"Wonderful news!" Alice and I shared WTF looks as Carlisle jumped out of his seat first pulling Edward up to shake his hand then embracing me tightly, "welcome to the family Bella. Does this mean you're a Cullen now?"

I nodded dumbly. Edward had not yet tired of calling me 'Mrs Cullen' at every possible opportunity and his pleasure at doing so made it worth the compromise I almost didn't make.

"Congratulations both of you," Esme said brightly - a little too brightly.

"I hope you aren't too disappointed we didn't have a big family wedding," I knew Esme loved a good party as much as her daughter did. In fact a large part of Edward's enthusiasm for an elopement style marriage came from his memories of Emmett and Rose's big day. As best man he'd been roped into numerous nearly unachievable tasks, from sourcing out of season flowers from across the country to dealing with crazy French chefs and keeping quarreling family members apart from one another. He also recalled Rose losing her temper the night before the wedding and threatening to walk out on Em if Esme and Carlisle made any more changes to the seating plan.

Esme composed her face into one of understanding, "of course not sweetheart, I quite understand."

Carlisle made a toast to us and to the family, joked that although _we'd_ saved him the great expense of a wedding Alice was bound to take it as an indication that she should spend twice as much on her own. He declared me his new favourite family member, the only one who could truly be called frugal and although I was sure he hadn't forgotten about it for a moment I didn't drop myself back in the shit by mentioning the hundreds of thousands I'd lost him in ongoing bonuses.

It'd taken some time for Edward's father to accept me as a permanent fixture in his life. There had been a time when I had honestly thought that Edward would cut Carlisle off for good so somehow it had fallen to Esme and I to heal the rift between them with a combination of reason and scolding. Eventually, _somehow_, Carlisle had apologised to me for his behaviour and over a matter of months we'd found common ground in our medical careers until we found ourselves in something approaching friendship. We still clashed occasionally when it came to matters of hospital policy, however Carlisle often informally consulted me on floor staff matters while I begrudgingly accepted that he would always have the last say.

So by the time Edward and I were on an airplane out of Seattle, my sabbatical agreed by no less than the head of the hospital, we were on good terms with the family - unlike Jasper who was learning about dating the only daughter of the big boss the hard way, finding himself not only under the permanently watchful eye of Dr. C but the butt of staff jokes at all times. Some people - people who he'd pissed off with his cocky attitude and womanising ways over the years - might have called it just desserts.

I peeked over at Jas, my oldest friend and the biggest pain in my ass all at once. He looked so happy, even as he tried to remove William's mashed potato from Alice's hair. Next to them Emmett and Rose argued over who should go check on baby Anna.

"I'll go," I offered. Neither Em nor Rose argued and I slipped away, heading through the vast house to the spare room.

She was fast asleep, breathing softly in the darkened room.

"Hey," Edward whispered, appearing in the doorway, raking a hand through his shaggy hair - it'd grown out while we were travelling and was on the verge of becoming too long, as Esme had very quickly pointed out as soon as she clocked the prodigal son and his copper mane.

"Hey you," I wrapped my arms around his waist, standing on tip-toes to kiss him, "would it be silly to say that I missed you?"

"No, I know exactly what you mean," he grinned, "do you think we'll ever get used to it again? Being around them I mean…"

Anybody would think we'd been cut off from all civilization for the past eighteen months, "we knew we were going to have to start remembering that other people exist at some point."

He pouted, leading me away from Anna and into the corridor, "but I don't want to share you."

I was confused when he led me in the opposite direction to the staircase, further into the vast house. The place was shut up for much of the year but Esme, Edward said, still thought of the place as home, the penthouse apartment in Seattle had always been a temporary living arrangement for her until Carlisle retired and they could return to Forks.

"This place is immense," I said, allowing myself to be led further away from the staircase, "I can't believe you grew up in such an amazing place."

"You'd have known all about it if you hadn't been such a bitch," he chuckled, leaning past me to open a large wooden door.

"Christ on a bike," I gasped taking in the surroundings I immediately recognised as quintessentially Edward - there was row upon row of books, CDs and records, an acoustic guitar propped against the wall and an impressive array of academic trophies gathered on a high shelf.

"I know, it's weird."

I ran my hand along a collection of text books I recognised only too well, plucking one and looking up at Edward to see if he remembered too. He was smirking at me, his eyes following my movements from under lowered lashes as I took in the weird shrine to his childhood.

"Page 183."

I gave him a puzzled look but went with it, flicking through the creased pages until I found the page.

"Mitosis?"

He raised an eyebrow, "it was the first time…"

"Sure," I suddenly remembered, "you insisted on double checking everything."

"_You _complained about having to share a microscope," he was close then, taking the book out of my hand and throwing it onto the desk behind me, "and about sitting next to me…"

"...and about your breathing," I added.

"I had asthma," I didn't know that, I worried, wasn't that something I should know? "I outgrew it."

I was the one having difficulty finding my breath then. Even after all this time, even after marriage, he could dazzle me with his intense green eyes - darker now - and the way he smelled, intoxicating but still indescribable.

"I'm sorry," I exhaled, "I wish I'd known."

"Known what Bella?" he asked, running his nose down the side of my neck, making my hair stand on end, finding the spot between my neck and my shoulder where he knew he'd find a reaction and biting down before soothing the same spot with his lips.

"About you…about this," I plunged my hands into his unruly hair, yanking him to me, kissing hard, my tongue finding its way into his mouth to tangle with his.

He walked me backwards until my calves hit something solid and, with a strong arm around my waist he lowered me onto the soft bed without breaking our kiss, covering his body with mine while his hands sought out the hem of my shirt, lifting it over my head and casting it aside before following it with his own.

"Your parents," I whispered.

"We're not teenagers Bella," he sighed into my scorched skin, his lips working their way downwards, kisses punctuating his words, "this was what I fantasised about you know?"

"Here? In this bed?" I shivered as he unbuckled my jeans, dragging them off along with my underwear and dipping his head between my legs, eyes still firmly locked with mine as he dragged his tongue along my inner thigh.

"Right here," he confirmed, his tongue flicking across my centre, fingers working their way inside me to the spot he knew would drive me insane. He watched as I fell apart, grabbing his old pillow to stifle my cries. Before I was even able to catch my breath he was there, pushing the pillow aside and kissing me again, more urgently. I could feel his erection throbbing against me through the fabric of his pants, reminding me that he still needed his release.

"Is this how you imagined it?" I asked with a grin, helping him to remove the offending items of clothing, releasing the beast.

"No," he looked deadly serious all of a sudden, thoughtful, his eyes burning. All of a sudden he stood, dragging me up with him and backing me into the wall, causing the high school trophies to tumble to the floor with a loud crash, "it was more like this."

"Fuck," I cursed breathlessly feeling my feet leave the floor as Edward, a growl rumbling from deep within his chest, lifted me to meet him, aligning himself so that, with my legs tightly around his waist he could push his way inside me, roughly pumping in and out, not seeming to care that I was trapped between his body and the wall completely unable to move anything but my hands, tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck, and my head, falling back against the hard wall. It should've been painful somewhere, - quite possibly everywhere - and in the back of my addled brain I wondered if I'd hurt later on.

I felt the familiar knot in the pit of my stomach once again, the sudden warmth shooting from my centre around my entire body, even my fingertips tingling as I cried out in ecstasy, not caring this time who heard as Edward joined me, shouting out his release as he thrust, hard, for a final time.

Lying on the bed afterwards, tangled in each other so it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began, I finally found my tongue, "your fantasies were kind of...punishing."

He twisted a strand of my hair around a finger, "Nothing you didn't deserve."

It was a joke but it hit home, "did you hate me?"

"Maybe...kind of," he chuckled darkly.

"Have I made it up to you?"

"I think seventeen year old Edward would agree that you've more than paid your penance," he kissed the top of my head gently and pulled me even closer, "but we both think that my Mom's going to be wondering where we are."

**A/N: so there you have it, a finale slice of lemon. Thank you to all of you who have stuck with this story over the last couple of weeks! And especially to those who have urged me on with their lovely reviews.**

I'll be back with a Esme/Carlisle update when I get a chance, and perhaps a little look back at the old days at Forks High...maybe. We'll see how you behave. But in the meantime I'm mid-way through a first chapter featuring a local celebrity Bella and a very British Edward. Hope you'll be back to read it :) EQx


	16. Cullen V Cullen: An Outtake

********************************

**Esme**

I dropped my clutch bag on the marble counter of our kitchen and opened the fridge to retrieve the half-drunk bottle of Chardonnay left over from the previous evening.

"Pour me one would you sweetheart?"

"Don't you sweetheart me Carlisle Cullen," spinning on my heel to fix him with a furious stare I saw his eyes bug, "I'm sorry?"

"You should be," I muttered, turning my back on him again and pouring two glasses of wine.

"Is this about Edward and that silly little girl?"

I slammed his glass down in front of him, "don't choke on it."

He followed me out onto the balcony where I was staring out over the rooftops of the city. We were lucky enough to have outdoor space in an area where it really was at a premium. I suppose penthouse apartments with balconies came with the territory though when you're married to a top surgeon and hospital CEO from a rich family. We'd never wanted for anything, even way back when Carlisle was training but, honestly, I'd swap it all to bring back the kind, relaxed man that I'd married all those years ago.

For many years we were a close knit family, living in a huge family home in the forest out on the peninsula. Carlisle worked in a small local hospital, fixing up broken hips and pinning back the ears of unhappy teens. The kids were happy - they spent their days in school and their spare time absorbed in their hobbies. Emmett biked through the forest for hours on end coming home covered in mud and smelling awful, Alice produced endless drawings and left half-finished magazines everywhere she went and Edward...well, Edward spent a lot of time alone in his room composing music, devouring books and doing whatever it is boys do when they're locked away in their bedrooms. Although he could have been lonely living that way, he seemed to be a content child, if a very serious one.

Then everything changed. Carlisle was offered a position in the city. It was an offer he couldn't refuse as head of General Surgery at the most prestigious hospital in the state. We closed up the house, the kids went to college and we - my husband and I - started a new life.

I couldn't pinpoint quite when Carlisle had become the man he was now but it was somewhere between the new position and Edward quitting medicine for music. He'd become bitter and angry, the stress of the job got to him and he spent less and less time at home and more and more time at the office until we barely spoke except for him to express his disappointment whenever one of his sons made what _he_ saw as a bad decision.

"Where have you been?" he asked, leaning against the glass barrier.

"If you must know I went to see Edward and Bella. After your tantrum I thought _somebody _ought to apologise to them."

"What on earth for?"

I gaped at him for a moment before pulling myself together, "what for? Are you quite insane? For _your_ appalling behaviour. For the way you embarrassed us both and made the two of them feel absolutely awful."

We stood there in silence for a while. I was waiting for him to say something but he remained quiet, sipping his wine and admiring the view.

"You know Carlisle, one of these days the boys will give up trying to gain your approval. You're pushing them both away, and when you're old and lonely because nobody wants to talk to you any longer you'll be very sorry indeed. Your money isn't going to keep you warm at night."

These confrontations were difficult to cope with and I could feel throat tightening as I fought back tears of frustration. As I moved to push the tears back I nudged my glass, sending it tumbling onto the sidewalk below, smashing into a million tiny pieces. I cursed loudly and leant over to ensure I hadn't mortally wounded anybody. There was nobody there but I called out a 'sorry,' just in case.

"Do you know what that girl did Esme? Edward is making the _wrong choice_. Somebody needs to tell it as it is."

"You are ridiculous," I spat, "'that girl' did nothing but protect her job and her friends. Do you need more bonuses? Well, do you?"

"That isn't the point and you know it."

"No, the point is that you can't bear to be wrong," I was aware of my voice becoming louder but I didn't care anymore if the neighbours heard us fight, "you've pushed Edward to his limit. He isn't like Emmett, he won't cheerfully take your..._your shit _and carry merrily on. You've hurt him time and again and I am not going to stand for it any longer."

Although he opened his mouth to speak no words came out.

"I'm going to bed. Don't even think about following me."

He didn't listen of course and no sooner was I stood in front of the sink brushing my teeth then I saw him standing behind me.

"Esme darling," he soothed, moving to slide his hands across my shoulders and down my arms.

"Don't you dare," I growled, "there's a perfectly good spare room next door and it's all yours until you get your act together."

He was stunned. It wasn't often I lost it with him but when I did he knew he was in trouble. Last time there was broken crockery and a changed lock. He stayed in a hotel for more than a week.

"What do you want me to do?" he sighed, leaving the en-suite to slump on the edge of the bed, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, "Edward is making one mistake after another and there's nothing anybody can do about it."

"He hasn't made mistakes Carlisle. Following your heart is never a mistake. You of all people should know that."

"What?"

I let a small smile slip as I leant against the bathroom doorway, "remember how your parents reacted when we got engaged? They thought we were too young and they certainly didn't like me one bit. Your mother still despises me."

"Nobody could despise you darling," I raised an eyebrow at him, "alright, she's not your biggest fan. But that's different."

"How is it different? They're in love, whether you like it or not. And they're a hell of a lot more mature than we were."

Perhaps it was the reminder of how madly in love we were when we first met at nineteen years old and married within months or perhaps it had finally hit home that Edward should be given the chance, just this once, to make his own decisions without having to wage a war against his father but he faltered, staring intently at me as I changed out of my trophy wife cocktail dress and into my nightgown...or maybe it was that. He was certainly stalking towards me in a way that suggested it was the silk rather than the shame that had changed his expression. Didn't he ever learn?

"I don't think so," I scolded poking him in the chest and briefly considering using one of Emmett's imaginative insults - I quite liked 'asshat' and though I wasn't sure what a 'douchenut' was it seemed quite fitting.

"Esme…" he groaned, "can't we talk about this in the morning?"

"No, we cannot talk about this in the fucking morning," he cringed at my rare use of the word, "I have nothing more to say to you."

"But…"

I swung the bedroom door open, holding it ajar for him, "you're sleeping in the spare room until further notice. When you've figured out where you went wrong tonight we'll talk but until then please go away."

He huffed and grabbed his boring medical tome from the bedside table, stomping out of the room like a big baby. After a brief pause I heard the spare room door slam, rattling the walls of the apartment.

"Fuckmuppet," I muttered under my breath.

**A/N: a million thank yous again to those who have read, reviewed and favourited this story. I may come back with another outtake - I'd quite like to go back to Edward & Bella at school. What do you think?**

In the meantime the first chapter of my new tale is now online. It's called The Morning After and features a permanently single Bella and a mystery Edward, soon to make his first appearance. Standard pain-in-the-ass Jake makes an early appearance too. Please have a read and let me know what you think...don't make me beg for those reviews :) EQx


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